The Dreamer Gate
by Malignent
Summary: Thousands of Uruk-Hai are drawn to Remnant after a ritual gone wrong, and are more than capable of bringing their own taste of war to this new world. Now the people of Remnant must deal with this new and numerous threat. As the Tournament draws near, and the actions of the Uruk Leaders grows ever bolder, can peace truly be maintained?
1. Chapter 1: The Gate

**This work will contain moments of intense violence, dark and dirty humor, and possible canonical diversions. If any of these rustle you to an unmanageable degree, then perhaps another fic will suffice.**

 **Let it be known that I am nowhere near close to enough of a LOTR fan to adhere to its canon much, in fact most knowledge here was gleaned from the SOM game itself which I've heard has been considered and confirmed by many purists uncanonical despite the wealth of similarities. Therefore I will state right here and now that I will not be following the canonicity of Tolkien's works to a T either, and will even tread lightly in terms of the game's canon in order to limit the number of restrictions my lack of precise knowledge regarding the LOTR universe may bring up.**

 **Similar to that, my knowledge of RWBY thus far consists of the currently aired episodes and trailers, therefore any potential mediums of information whether they be from panels, books and so forth will not be included. Just a fair warning for those who may feel disappointed due to canon complications.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of The Rings, the Middle-Earth universe, Shadow of Mordor or RWBY.**

* * *

 **The Gate**

"It'll work, it must work, it shall work." Came the throaty voice of a humanoid being hunched over a table. He was not human, one may not easily be able to tell due to the beige color of his skin, but the noticeably Orcish structure of his head coupled with his green eyes and admittedly sharp looking teeth would easily enforce that statement. But he was not simply an Orc, not in the farthest stretch of the imagination. He was an Uruk, similar to their Orcish cousins yet mightier in almost every regard.

He was clothed in red trousers held aloft by several brown belts and a large ring of black feathers and bones which covered his neck and shoulders. He also had thick looking metal gauntlets with several spikes protruding from them, but had foregone wearing his helmet which lay on the table. The helmet was odd, colored black with small wings sprouting from its sides. Lying next to the helmet was the source of his worry, a sketch of a complex looking symbol covered in runes and odd looking patterns.

"It'll work, it must work, it has to work."

This Uruk had been repeating this particular phrase several times as he stood over the table, trying to ignore the thunderous voices of his kin coming from outside the small tent he was inside. They were the voices of hundreds, no, thousands of Uruks who had all come to enjoy the spectacle, most likely expecting for him to lose his head before the day was over. He understood this assumption, the treat of death is what had him consistently reassuring himself that today would go according to his admittedly shaky plan.

As he repeated his own encouragements again, a set of footsteps caused him to cease lest one of his own discover him showing his fear. He turned to see his advisor, Dushrat, garbed in red armor and a fancy head piece taken from a noble human he'd slain in the past. Not much of Dushrat's face could be seen due to the helmet, but he could spot the Advisor's pointy ears poking out of two holes he'd carved into the side of it. Dushrat may appear to be quite large in the belly, but none would ever assume that fat meant weak when considering an Uruk's passion for power. Even the fattest of Uruk bodies were laced with powerful muscles, same goes for the smaller, thinner of their kind.

"Master Tugog," Dushrat spoke as he gestured towards one of the structure's exits "Hork has arrived."

Tugog swallowed nervously, despite trying to appear firm he knew Dushrat was already fully aware of his fear. By all means he knew many of the Uruks of the land knew he was truly terrified of the potential outcome of this event. That does not mean he would dare to admit it publicly, one does not become Warchief by showing his weaknesses so freely.

Nodding to Dushrat, Tugog turned and grabbed his helmet as he followed him out of the building near the wall where his axes hung, and he retrieved them and slid both into straps on his back before covering his eyes at the sudden brightness of the outside. Before him was the all encompassing sight of the Black Gate, towering over the expanse of dirt ground which spread far from its base. Along the Gate was scaffolding which was usually filled with slaves reinforcing the mighty monument, yet today they were instead packed tightly with on-looking Uruks dressed in dark garbs.

There were several structures and tents dotted around the base of the Black Gate, but for better or worst the majority of the near area was wide and open ground which led to short stone cliffs which they often used slaves to mine through. They'd mined several paths through the stone to reach other strongholds or outposts easier, and had reduced them quite a lot in preparation for this day.

Instead of slaves chipping away at the stone however, there were even more Uruks tightly packed together calling for blood. Most of them wore red garbs of some fashion, showing their allegiance to Captains who served Tugog, yet their numbers and presences did nothing to settle his inner musings. The darker themed Uruks crowding the scaffolding and positions of the Black Gate served under Hork, a fellow Warchief who may or may not have Tugog's head mounted on a spike before the day is through. In addition to their forces there were a noteworthy number of Captains and Uruks who were not allied with either in attendance. They were the wilder sorts who served no Warchief, probably anticipated seeing a bloodbath once Tugog's little ritual failed.

Yes, they were all gathered to watch a ritual, Tugog's ritual to be more precise. He was not simply known as Warchief Tugog or Master Tugog by the Uruks of the land. No, he was actually referred to as Tugog the Dreamer by many of his foes and allies alike. Rumors say it was a curse placed upon him by a wizard or elf of some type, but his dreams would always foreshadow events soon to come. Most of the time they were easy to interpret and he would use their information to overcome whatever battle he would soon involve himself in, but recently...

The chanting of the Uruks on the scaffolding of the Black Gate broke Tugog from his silent musings, they chanted in unison as the large form of their leader jumped down from the top of the gate and landed heavily on the top section of scaffolding. The massive Uruk stood a head taller than even Tugog, whose physique was not lacking in height or muscle, with a large torso of equal parts fat and muscle. As Hork rose two other Uruks jumped down after him, one dressed with a similar feather-based neckpiece as Tugog's yet with a helmet modeled after a Hell-Hawk's, and the other in full dark armor which covered him head to toe.

In comparison Hork dressed rather modestly, with his legs protected by greaves, his body protected by simple chain mail, his shoulders protected by light armor and his hands concealed by thick gloves . Besides his large appearance Hork's entire head reminded many of an egg what with its smooth slightly pointed round top, and his pointy ears which seemed similar to Dushrat's. But by far his most noticeable facial trait was his extremely unnoticeable nose. More of a slight protrusion than a tool for olfactory sense, Hork's nose was flat as could be.

And despite all these mockable traits, all knew better than to capitalize on them. Hork was the strictest Warchief currently in power, he had even less patience for incompetence than he had a nose. And yet somehow he had put enough faith into Tugog's dreams to aid him in setting up this ritual. It was more of a favor than anything else, back when they were both simple soldiers in the Dark Lord's armies Hork had been impressed with Tugog's apparent clairvoyance. Perhaps he had allowed the reputation of his dreams to precede them, for after mentioning the odd ritual he'd been seeing Hork had offered assistance.

But now, as he watched his ally slowly make his way down the scaffolding with his two highest ranking Bodyguards at his side, Tugog knew he had asked for far too much. As his dreams portrayed more and more of the ritual's necessities the amount of resources being funneled into it had become ludicrous, yet he so feared the idea of wasting Hork's time that he refused to admit his waning faith in them. But of course, this only dug him further and further into this grave situation of his.

Now, lying in front of the Black Gate was the fruit of their labor. A freshly constructed stone floor built on the ground with a number of Tugog's underlings finishing the patterns and runes of the ritual on it using a red paste mainly fabricated from the remains of their slaves. The amount of stone, slaves, time and other ingredients which had been put into this ritual was insurmountable, requiring Hork to halt his reinforcement of the great Black Gate in order to follow through. This was believed to be Hork's greatest annoyance during this entire fiasco. As the Warchief whose forces occupy the Black Gate, the monument was his responsibility. If an attack crippled their forces all because he was unable to properly reinforce it in time then...

Tugog walked past the large ritual site and stared up at the scaffolding just as Hork leaped down from another ladder. The larger Uruk walked to the edge of the scaffolding he had just jumped down to and glared down at Tugog as he folded his arms.

"What a fine evening, Dreamer." Hork muttered "The smoke in the air, clouds grayed with ashes of cooked pinkskins, and the scent of blood tingling in my nostrils."

Dushrat gave a small cough at that word, but luckily remained silent enough for Tugog to respond "Indeed, glorious day to serve the Dark Lord's cause, my friend."

Hork narrowed his eyes a bit "This ritual of yours, you've built up quite the reward for aiding in the construction of it."

Tugog only nodded in affirmation "It as been quite bothersome lately to identify what I see, however I'm sure that what I've been made privy to will be a great asset to the dark lord if we recover it for him."

Hork looked away for a moment to run his beady eyes over the massive crowd of Uruks who wailed and roared in anticipation. As he did so a whelp of an Uruk scampered over to Dushrat and whispered into his pointy ear. Dushrat nodded and spoke back for a moment before sending the whelp off and turning back to his master.

"Tugog," he drew the Dreamer's attention "the ritual is ready, we'll have the Shaman in position soon."

Tugog nodded and glanced back up at Hork, attempting to smile confidently "Hear that? Soon enough we'll be delivering our services to the Dark Lord tenfold."

Hork grumbled an affirmative and the Dreamer turned to step away when-

"Wouldn't you rather join me up here? Its much less..." Hork paused to look over the wild masses which had gathered at the foot of his charge "unsavory."

Tugog knew for a fact Hork just wanted him within decapitating range should the very likely possibility of the ritual failing occur. Yet he also knew that turning down the offer would make his fear that much more obvious, which is why he ended up watching from the upper scaffolding with Hork's massive figure calmly watching next to him. Below they watched as an Uruk stepped forward and began reciting the loose terms Tugog had picked up in his dreams.

The chants of the spectators grew quieter as the shaman worked his way through the ritual, curiosity temporarily overwhelming the bloodlust.

"Has the true usage of this...tool, made itself clear to you?" Hork asked without taking his eyes off the shaman

Tugog took a steady breath "No, I have seen our Dark lord wielding it and overwhelming our enemies with it, but I suppose the exact _how_ is what we shall discover once its in our possession."

Hork gave a small harrumph in response as the Shaman finally completed the ritual by stepping back from the markings and having a nearby Uruk set fire to them. The fire traveled along the red paste due to the flammable elements taken from their supply of grog, which had led to outcry from Tugog's forces. Soon the entire ritual pyre was ablaze, and the Uruks watched on waiting for it to run its course. As time went on Tugog's worries grew, he kept glancing to Hork's unimpressed face and blocked out the growing grumbles which came from the Uruks stationed in the scaffolding. Even below he could see the rest of the assembled crowd begin murmuring towards each other as the flames reached a crescendo and began dying down.

The red paste which had been used to draw up the pattern had burned and melted in a manner reminiscent to wax, leaving a large puddle of red covering the stone floor. The bubbling fluid eventually settled as well, leaving only the growing cries of outrage to draw attention.

It hadn't worked...

Tugog could feel the sweat running down across his face, but it was not due to the fashion by which his helmet had been constructed. Slowly he turned to glance up at Hork's face, and could just barely hold back his excuses as the larger Warchief turned to glare down at him.

"Is that it?" Hork asked with the subtle hints of barely restrained fury lacing their way through his words

"Perhaps..." Tugog swallowed nervously "w-we may have miscalculated the amount of slaves we'd-"

"No." Hork interrupted as he turned towards Tugog, his frown was just barely capable of turning into a snarl if the sharp twitches of muscles at the sides were any indication "You said that the ingredients were exactly as you foretold them to be."

"But I-"

"Silence!" Hork bellowed, causing the unpleased Uruk masses to cease their grumblings and let their attention be drawn to the two Warchiefs on the scaffolding "We have spent months toiling away with the specifics of this worthless ritual of yours. How many slaves did we go through to get that damned concoction correct? How many feasts have your Captains had to forego because of you wasting their grog on it? How much work do you think we have fallen behind on due to your idiocy!?"

"But I saw-!"

"You saw nothing but lies!"

The Uruks turned to each other as they watched the escalating situation, there disappointment at seeing all that effort go up in smoke replaced by the need to see retribution being put forth. And the forces who already came expecting it only readied themselves for a proper fight. The groans and complaints immediately turned to cries for merciless bloodshed as Tugog backed away from the increasingly infuriated wall of flesh that was Hork.

As the situation escalated, an unallied Captain watched as both Tugog and Hork's forces gripped tightly at the handles of their weapons. He glanced to his own forces and saw how ready they were for a good show, but from his position he also spotted something happening to the puddle of red left behind by the ritual.

He climbed down from his perch atop a crate and meandered over to the ritual site while the masses focused on the two Warchiefs drawing their weapons on each other.

"Perhaps a better site perhaps?!" Tugog offered desperately as he watched Hork draw two ranger swords from his back, trophies taken from fallen foes no doubt.

"Perhaps you should adopt a fitting stance!" Hork pointed the tip of one sword at him "Wouldn't want you to die a complete failure right, _friend_?"

The unallied Captain stood watching the red puddle bubble a bit, and called one of his Uruks over. Disgruntled at being interrupted while viewing the spectacle, the underling looked a bit put off by the order before his captain barked at him to hurry up or else. With a grumble the lesser Uruk stomped over to his captain, who nodded in approval and grabbed his arm before experimentally shoving it into the puddle.

Almost immediately the underling let out a scream of surprise as the puddle reacted quickly, and the Warchief duel was interrupted as the vision of all those in attendance suddenly went red.

* * *

 **Week One...**

A deep, throaty cough tore out of his mouth, drawing the attention of two Uruks nearby. They came quickly, crowding around the massive from as his eyes shifted underneath their lids.

"Do you think he's recovered?"

"By the dark lord I hope not, he's so much less threatening when he's confined to a bed like this."

Before they could descend any further into that line of talking, a third Uruk in darker attire entered the room "I heard he was awakening, what is- Oi! What are you two doing so close to him?!"

"We heard him groan and saw him moving about, so we just-"

"What you did was sit around my master hoping he would die so your coward of a leader could take his belongings."

"...I mean, I wouldn't exactly put it like that. It was mostly hoping he'd stay comatose or something of the sort-"

"All of you silence yourselves." A stern, but weathered voice spoke. All eyes turned to the massive figure of Hork as it slowly rose from the tattered bed they had procured for him.

"Master!" the third voice called out as he shoved the other two away from the bed and kneeled at its side, lowering his head in respect.

Hork rose, letting his two trunk-like legs plant themselves at the foot of his bed before slowly rising to his full height and placing a hand to his pained head. His eyes ran over the forms of the three others sharing the room with him, immediately recognizing them.

"Dharg," he spoke to the one kneeling at his feet "why have you let Tugog's whelps keep watch over me whilst I was unconscious?"

His eyes shifted to the two others, who flinched from his gaze immediately. Dharg lifted his gaze slightly to glare at the two before answering "As a sign of no ill-will, Tugog has been attempting to merge resources with us and-"

"Unacceptable," his Master interrupted before a thick finger pointed at the two others "You two exit this quarters immediately lest I have Dharg here scalp the both of you for intrusion."

"But our master said-"

"Make me repeat myself, worm, and your eyes will join your scalps."

Taking the hint, the two immediately made haste out of the room leaving Dharg the Hell-Hawk with his master. There was a long silence after that as Dharg waited for Hork to speak, yet he simply stared at the door the two had left through with bitter eyes.

"How long was I incapacitated?"

Dharg lowered his head a bit "For nearly a week sir-"

Hork scowled at the news.

"But fear not, Pigug and I have taken precaution to keep our forces in check during your resting."

Hork grumbled a bit before lumbering over to the walls of the room and running a large hand over it "So... I suppose that weakling's little ritual worked?"

He did not receive an immediate answer, instead Dharg just stood and gestured to the door "I believe it would be easier to show you, Master."

Hork turned to look at him with a confused glance before nodding, as the two exited the room Dharg grabbed his Hawk-themed helmet from another Uruk who waited outside the door.

"This is not my stronghold." Hork commented as they walked through sandy stone halls, halls which looked as if they'd been weathered down by age and abuse but still stood strong against the elements. There were large cracks here and there which let long gashes of intense sunlight to bleed in. Hork would never allow the Black Gate to ever become so weathered, replacing old stone with new stone in structurally weakened areas was just reasonable. Even though this meant his forces had little time to work on his actual stronghold, Hork had understood from the get go that the Black Gate would always be of higher priority to the Dark Lord. He would have to check to make sure his underlings had kept things up to par in his absence.

"Where are we?" Hork asked as he realized this didn't look like any of the strongholds nearby.

Dharg chose not to meet his Master's gaze as they descended a spiral staircase made of the same sandy stone "After the ritual activated it... it took most of the Uruks who were in attendance if not all of them, we awoke in what appeared to be a desert Master." Dharg kept speaking even as he watched his Master's eyes widen in what could only be disgust "After some searching this was the closest fortifiable location we could find. We did not even know of its importance until we started capturing them."

"Capturing who? Tarks? Are there villages nearby? " Hork demanded information, the idea of being so far away from his charge enough was alone to set fire to the rage which had been dampened by whatever head injury he had suffered. He needed to know where they were, how that ritual had sent them there, and how quick he could mobilize their forces and return them to where they were needed by the Dark Lord. Moving Uruks this far, if it weren't for the incredibly infuriating inconvenience it provided he may have actually planned on congratulating Tugog for discovering such a useful tool. But to take two Warchiefs worth of forces, not even including the number of unallied Captains in attendance provided an exploitable weakness in their defenses.

"No and yes, there were Tarks yes but... they were not as we expected them to be."

Just as he said that they came across a group of slaves attempting to reinforce a particularly weak stone wall as one of Hork's lesser Uruks stood watch. Hork had actually expected to see more slaves working on this structure, if there were small numbers of them then it would make reinforcing against potential attack an issue. Before he could bring it up to Dharg he noticed something off about several of the slaves, they had been dressed in near rags and shaved as per usual. However, atop several heads were what appeared to be the ears of beasts. A Hare's ears there, a wolf's ears there, two others with other random extra assets which Hork was damn sure were not supposed to be on filthy pinkskins.

"You say I was only out for a week." Hork muttered as he watched an Uruk kick a slave for dropping several boards, eyes glued to the alien sight of humans with beast parts.

Dharg nodded "Correct Master."

Hork turned to him with a look of strict determination, "Tell me all you know of where that damn Ritual sent us."

* * *

"He has awoken." Dushrat said as he folded his arms across his large chest

Tugog turned from his chair to regard him for a moment from within the confines of his oddly proportioned mask. He gave his advisor a look of disbelief before immediately rising from his chair and grabbing hold of him.

"Is it true?" Tugog implored "Has Hork really returned to consciousness?"

Dushrat nodded, and Tugog only looked on for a mere moment before turning and hastily making his way to the flaps of his tent. Outside was a large desert which ended at the foot of a line of cliffs, built into one of those cliffs was an old castle-like tower which ran up the side and even above the cliffs themselves. It may have once stood even taller surmised the more structurally educated among them. All around the tower were now hundreds of tents, with large numbers of Uruks moving about doing various tasks.

There were some groups of slaves being shepherded around by the brutish Great Orcs, but nowhere near the amount one would typically see at a gathering of this many. Tugog wove through the crowds, receiving scornful looks from Hork's forces and humored looks from his own. As he walked two familiar figures took note of his hurried state and rushed to catch up to him.

"There have been rumors that Hork has finally awoken." the thinner, smaller of the two spoke in a voice as dry as his appearance would lead one to believe "I suppose you are going to prove whether these rumors are true or false."

The meatier, larger of the two raised his weapon as he spoke "Blood-Axe said it was true, said Horker's been having a fit over something or other."

Tugog swallowed at that little revelation, but kept his speed up as he pushed open the lower doors of the castle and began making his way through considerably less crowded halls and up several sets of stairs. His two Underlings followed behind, but eventually his lack of response led them to turn on each other instead.

"Blood-Axe also heard this one stupid shrakh mention-"

"Enough of your deliriums, you soft-headed fool." the other interrupted "If you wish to provide proper information then I suggest offering something which you haven't fabricated in that broken mind of yours."

The taller one just held his weapon to his ear "Hm, your right about that. Doesn't really sound like Ishga trusts you much eh?"

"Don't you dare attempt to speak ill of me in my presence you insolent cur!" Ishga stabbed a finger towards him.

Finally the trio made their way up the tower to where it connected to the top of the cliff. The very top spilled onto the Cliffside, so much so that if one were to approach from the cliffside they would assume the very top was all there was to it. This cliffside section of the castle even had the remains of a moat which had long been filled over with sand, a broken drawbridge which led out on the Cliffside and a courtyard. In all honesty, this entire section would easily be classified as a castle all on its own. They would not be stopping at the courtyard, but passed by an open doorway on their way to the last flight of stairs.

Tugog glanced out to see large numbers of Uruks with black war paint covering their exposed skin, many following the instruction of a familiar heavily armored Uruk wielding a massive blade. Even with his back turned Tugog knew he did not want another altercation with this particular Captain. He noticeably hurried past the doorway as the Captain seemed to notice eyes on him and turned to investigate, only to catch the heel of an Uruk exiting his vision. This Captain squinted within the confines of his helmet.

Tugog finally came across what he knew to be the upper dining hall, where whoever had built this wondstructure would probably hold their fanciest of assemblies. He readied himself as he stood at the door, and just barely opened it when he heard the roar.

"AND THEY JUST LEFT?!"

Almost immediately Tugog knew of the owner of that roar and could even guess at what his roar was about.

As he stepped inside he saw Dharg trying to maintain a look of infallibility even as the massive form of Hork paced back and forth beside him.

Tugog announced his presence with a cough, Hork's infuriated gaze immediately shot towards him as a growl made its way out of his lips.

"You." Hork lumbered over as a hand went to the handle of one of the swords strapped to his back "I want genuine reasons why I should not gut you and throw your corpse from that window at this very moment."

Tugog raised his hands in an attempt to appease Hork's anger "Listen, I know not what you've been told but-"

"I've heard from at least three of my Captains that your damned ritual dragged us from the foot of the Black Gate to this realm, all of us! Do you know what a loss of numbers like that could do to the Dark Lord's cause if not remedied immediately!?"

"Blood-Axe says that it isn't good, so-" Tugog's heavy set-supporter supplied even as the smaller one jabbed him in the gut

"And this place, this Remnant as those pinkskin hybrids so adamantly claim, is completely infested with witchery!" Hork drew one sword and leveled it with Tugog's head "I've apparently lost two of my finest captains to these dark beasts which roam the lands and the trinkets Dharg speaks of which the humans use."

He nodded to one of such trinkets which had been lain along the battered dining table "You said that Ritual would bring us the greatest Tool we could ever offer the Dark Lord, and while acquiring a way to move a sizeable force great distances it just so happened to leave the Black Gate and its surrounding areas severely undefended!"

"But it still worked!" Tugog said firmly "All we need to do is figure out how to reverse the effect and we can return to study how to better use this to our Dark Lord's advantage. Even so this realm offers so many possibilities, my friend-"

"Say that one more time and I promise... _promise_ you you'll never say anything again." Hork hissed through gritted teeth "We were unprepared for an exodus of such a level, these slaves can only provide us with so much information. There are too many things which we do not know about which could prove significant threat! These dark beasts, the sorcery which is said to affect nearly all the pinkskins in the land, and those warrior Huntsmen they speak of. On top of all that to process I recently discover that you also allowed that filthy rat Bubol to talk several dozen unaligned captains into just wandering off with all of their forces!"

Tugog swallowed "They were about to start infighting, getting rid of them seemed the most logical course of action."

"If that diseased rodent of an Uruk wished them to be gone from us I can assure you it only means he wishes to turn them against us," Hork hissed before narrowing his eyes even more "I hear you kept Pigug from administering justice to the more volatile forces."

"Executing their captains would only provoke-"

"No, it would've shown them who holds the power here." Hork stated vehemently as he lowered his sword and instead towered over Tugog "You were always so weak-willed Dreamer, not even your clairvoyance could erase that, this is why your captains walk all over you."

Tugog held his tongue as Hork took a deep breath and turned to the table before him and placed his hands upon it with a grumble. On the table was a map of the new world they had found themselves in, or at least what they could acquire from the recently captured slaves. Tugog caught Hork's eye as he turned from the map and watched as Hork straightened and spoke evenly.

"We'll need more."

Tugog glanced at his two captains before imploring "More what?"

Hork glared back at him "If we are to make it in this new realm your idiocy has dragged us into, we're going to need much more information."

* * *

 **Week Three...**

The last of the creatures fell under the barrage of quick slashes and occasional arrows, writhing about and angrily nursing his wounds as the huntress approached and quickly pinned him down with the heel of her shoe. She was still sweating, the initial shock of seeing these strange beings having mixed in with the panic she'd felt as they immediately attacked her. Yet it had slowly decreased as she realized that, with her skill, they were manageable. The rest were left in similar incapacitated states all around the small clearing in the woods that she had found them in.

It was supposed to be a simple job, clearing up a new Beowolf den which had been recently established by an alpha. After finding the den already cleared out, she quickly found the culprits. And though they had called themselves Uruks while fighting her, calling her derogatory terms she didn't think even existed in Remnant, she still had far too many questions.

The Uruk she was currently stepping on had shown more battle ferocity than the others, and had shouted orders at them several times during the fight to try and outmaneuver her. They were pretty bad orders, but it still labeled him as someone with authority. So...

"What...are you?" she asked as she aimed her wrist mounted crossbow at him

He groaned and lifted his head up to grumble at her "We's the greater Orcs you spindly little tark, thoughts we made 'at all clear for ya, now get offa me so I's can ram that little bow of yours up yer arse!"

The only thing she knew about Orcs was from those fantasy stories her old man used to read her as a kid, and as she thought more about it she did notice similarities between the beings she'd just beaten down and the fantasy creatures she'd pictured. But that still didn't answer the many questions she had brewing in her head, each and every potential answer would probably just spawn hundreds more.

"W-Why are you here?" she asked, fearing if she paused for too long he might try to escape

The Uruk gave a throaty chuckle as he raised a hand and gestured at the nearby entrance to the cleared out Grimm cave "He said we'd just need to wait near 'at over there, and then one a you lot woul' show your pathetic pinkflesh around here."

Again with the foreign derogatory terms... wait

"So you weren't the ones who cleared out that den?" she asked

He nodded with a nasally chortle "Nah, just supposed to greet ya the Uruk way."

Having them wait for her just to attack her? They weren't much of a threat, but what if whoever sent them knew that? If they did then that would make them a-

The Huntress immediately lunged to the side as an arrow sped at her, she immediately searched for the shooter, only to find the thick branches of the surrounding wilderness obscuring her vision.

"Aw damn it!" a voice called out, a voice which sounded all too happy to truly be angry, a voice which seemed enthusiastic that its sly attack had been avoided "Looks like she figured it out eh?"

Even from there the huntress could tell he wasn't talking to her, she watched as leaves rustled and immediately raised her crossbow. But before she could fire the voice spoke up again, "Oh well, I brought you along for a reason my boy! Have at her!"

Immediately a blur dropped down from the tree and sped towards her, she raised her crossbow and steadied it before firing at the blur only for it to maneuver its way between her shots and raised what looked like a weapon as it closed the distance.

* * *

"...Orcs..."

Winter glared at the two Atlas soldiers with a look of annoyed confusion, they glanced at each other for only a moment before looking back at her and nodding simultaneously. Winter looked down at the map on the table before her for a moment as she processed the information they had just given her.

"You mean... like from those Fantasy films?"

"Yes," one answered before raising a finger "exactly like that only in real life."

Winter held his gaze for a moment before turning to his partner "Did he suffer some form of head injury within the recent few days?"

"No ma'am, he's just naturally idiotic." his partner answered immediately, prompting the solider to glare at him.

"What else would you call those things then?!" he implored as he folded his arms over his chest "Its nearly point for point!"

"They call themselves Uruks, ma'am." his partner ignored the jab and turned back to their superior "At least, that's what we could get from the few we managed to subdue."

"Yeah, and they themselves said that Uruk can be interpreted as Greater Orc!" the soldier insisted before groaning and looking back at Winter "Ma'am, trust me, all you'd need to do is see them to completely understand where I'm coming from."

Winter looked between the two before looking back down at the map for a while and sighing. She stood straight and stepped away from the table, moving towards the flap of the large tent they had been conversing in. The two Atlesian soldiers quickly followed behind her as she exited. The camp the tent was situated in was full of Atlesian Knights and soldiers, moving between tents or arming up. There were several SDC employees being treated at their medical tent, others being questioned by Atlas personnel.

In the distance she could see smoke still rising from the Dust-Quarry.

"How long has this been happening exactly?" Winter asked as she walked through the camp

"They attacked Monday evening," the partner said as he removed his helmet "no signal or anything. They just came down the slopes and overwhelmed the initial security teams with the element of surprise."

"But you say they didn't attack with any heavy weaponry?" Winter asked as she stepped out of the way of two soldiers carrying a third who seemed wounded "How is it that regular swords and crossbows are holding back the Atlesian response teams?"

"At first we started making good headway." the other soldier said before gesturing to his partner "Nyl and I were in there three days ago, seemed we had the advantage until they started using dust."

This drew Winter's attention "They're using the dust?"

"Yeah," Nyl answered "archers started dipping their arrows in the stuff, can blast a whole squad of AK-Units apart. Even saw some of them take down a Paladin some time ago. The only places not covered by their archers are too volatile to contest them at, a stray round from either side could make half of the quarry ignite."

"Which is too costly to allow." Winter said with a small sigh "So what exactly are their goals here?"

"Dunno, they mostly seem to be forcing their hostages to keep mining dust. If we knew of a place they could safely move it without being spotted by our perimeter guard then I'd say that was their goal. But so far they just seem to be storing it."

"They probably just wanted to destroy stuff, we all know how the Orcs-"

"Uruks."

"-Orcs from the stories! *Ahem* were mostly savage murderers."

"But if that was true for these guys then why haven't they just executed all their hostages?"

"Because they can use them to get dust, which helps them kill easier!"

"That seems to be quite smart for what you claim to be savages."

"Quiet!" Winter interrupted the two as they reached the edge of the camp "If we take out those archers, do we have a chance of pushing through their guard?"

"It would be much easier ma'am, but we have no idea if they've started laying traps down, or if they've been stealing the weapons of fallen soldiers to use or-"

"Has anyone been shot with an actual dust round?" Winter interrupted

"Well, no but-"

"Then odds are they aren't using whatever weapons they find, worst case scenario they're just hoarding them somewhere so we can't reacquire them." Winter said as she finally spotted a line of Atlesian Knights and soldiers aiming weapons towards the blown apart gate which was once the main entrance to the quarry. Beyond she could see splatters of what she could only assume was Uruk blood, amongst several destroyed mining vehicles and toppled equipment. Surrounding the quarry were the slopes the Uruks had apparently used during the attack.

"Is this the only easy exit from the quarry?" Winter asked

"No, we have teams at the other two exits as well, if they want out then they'll have to sacrifice too many of their forces to make a push."

"Hm," Winter said before turning to Nyl's partner "Seems a bit too cautious for savages, correct?"

He fumed, but knew his place well enough not to argue with her.

"Take down the explosive archers, identify potential traps, identify their commanders and capture one if possible." Winter listed off several objectives

"Their commanders?"

"An attack this coordinated must have been planned by somebody, capturing one of them would provide information in further potential conflicts with them." Winter stated before glaring at the entrance "Besides..."

"I want to know what they came here for."

* * *

Two larger Uruks watched on as an archer slowly dipped each of his arrows into a tube of red dust before carefully sliding them into a quiver, one wielding a shield and large spear while the other wielded a sheathed sword.

"Hey." the shield-barer spoke up

The warrior turned to regard him "What?"

The original speaker lowered his spear for a moment "Why we here?"

"We're defendin' this puny bastard while he resupplies." his partner said as he turned back to keep watch on the surrounding area

"No but, why we defend whelp? Not help with the battle?"

The Uruk Warrior sighed "Because-"

"Because if I'm attacked without my quiver complete then we lose a valuable asset on the battlefield!" The Archer croaked out with his nasally voice

The Warrior immediately turned on him "I was gonna say it's because boss don't want another one of you dumb globs dropping another vial of blasting powder and blowing ya'selves up!"

"Ha! Unlike my foolish brothers I happen to be smarter than the lot of you worthless curs." the Archer explained before running his leathery hand along his crossbow "The accuracy needed to properly wield this weapon is beyond meat headed fools like yourselves."

"If you so accurate," the Shield Barer tilted his head to the side "why you waste whole quiver on six metal men?"

The warrior laughed "Ah that's right! Couldn't hit the broadside of a steel wall, he couldn't! In fact, why's he even an archer anyway instead of swinging around a club?"

"I was, uh, I was feeling them out yes!" the archer choked out a retort before standing and folding his arms "Imbecilic creatures like yourselves would never understand the true art of ranged weaponry!"

"Wait... you feeling up metal man?" the Shield barer asked

"What? No I-!"

"That's right mate," the Warrior interjected "got 'imself a good feel of them steel tark thingies he did."

"Wow," Winter interjected "you guys actually do resemble Orcs."

The Archer and the Warrior froze as the Shield Barer turned to spot the Specialist standing not that far behind him "No, we Uruk white lady." he corrected before turning back to his companions "So why Archer feeling up metal man?"

The Warrior and the Archer jerked back as the Archer screamed "Its one of them filthy tarks you stupid glob!"

The Shield-Barer tilted his head to the side in confusion for a while before the dusty wheels in his head finally started turning, he immediately gripped his spear and swung it back only for Winter to leap over it and dart past him towards the warrior who grabbed the hilt of his blade and began sliding it out. The archer grabbed his partially filled quiver and crossbow and jumped back before loading his weapon and trying to take aim. Before the warrior could draw his blade Winter planted her foot on his chest and kicked him down before ducking out of the way of another spear swing.

She moved behind the rising warrior and grabbed hold of him with her blade to his neck "All right, I suggest you drop your-"

"I got her!" The Shield Barer roared before going into a full charge immediately causing the Warrior to wave for him to stop.

"Wait! No you imbecile don't you-!"

Winter released the warrior and backed out of the way as the Shield-Barer impaled his comrade on his spear. Confused at the lack of Tark corpse on his spear, the Shield Barer lifted his weapon to regard the struggling and cursing Uruk on it with a look of dismay.

"Huh, why no white lady on there?" The Shield Barer asked the Warrior

"By the Dark Lord! Get me offa this thing you useless shrakh!"

Winter quirked an eyebrow as she watched the shield-barer try to shake his partner off his spear unsuccessfully.

"Freeze!" a nasally voice caused her to turn to the archer who finally had her in his sights "Ha! Shouldn't have let those two fools distract you from the real threat!"

Winter tilted her head to the side and got into a ready position as the archer lined up his dust tinted arrow and fired.

The arrow impacted against the shoulder of the Uruk warrior and immediately set him and the top half of the Shield-Barer's spear alight. The Uruk warrior began screaming even louder profanities now directed towards the Archer instead of the Shield Barer who seemed stunned by the sudden appearance of fire on his weapon.

"Huh? Oh, guess archer can hit stuff." the Shield-Barer pointed out before smiling up at the burning Warrior "Guess you wrong, huh?"

"Find me some water ya damned fool!"

Winter turned back to the archer and raised an eyebrow, he coughed a bit "Just... *Ahem* getting a feel for-"

Winter strode forward, grabbed the smaller being by the head and threw him back towards the shield barer, who barely seemed to notice the archer impacting with his body.

"Enough!" the Archer said as he scrambled to his feet "I will not be outdone by a female pinkskin!"

He gestured to the shield-Barer "Put that charred heap down and charge her while I provide cover!"

The shield barer shrugged before whipping the Warrior's thoroughly charred corpse off his weapon and pointing it towards Winter again. The Atlas Specialist just rolled her eyes, already thoroughly disappointed by them and by extension those they managed to hold back for the last week or so. He lumbered forward and thrusted his spear at her only for her to slip under the attack and drag her own blade along his shoulder before jumping back out of the way of a retaliatory strike. As he turned to face her Winter watched an explosion happen several yards to her side and heard that Archer Uruk curse to himself as he reloaded.

The shield barer came at her again this time swinging his shield at her only for her to move along with his swing and giving him several long cuts along the back, he stumbled for a moment as she stood and pointed her sword at him. She heard an "Aha!" before another arrow came whizzing by her and set the Shield-Barer on fire. As the larger Uruk began flailing and running around wildly trying to put himself out, Winter could only turn and glare at the Archer who could only stare equally dumbfounded at his own incompetence.

"Now that last one was shrakh!" he griped before angrily loading another arrow "You ain't even moving for Sauron's sakes!"

Winter just rolled her eyes and gestured with her blade as the burning shield-barer stumbled towards her, a glyph appeared before him and once stepped on launched the flaming Uruk right over her.

The archer could only let his eyes grow large at the mass of burning flesh coming towards him and uttered a dejected "Oh." before he was crushed under it. Winter stood straight and gave a small scowl at the pile of burning Uruk before turning and making her way towards a nearby watch tower, these things had managed to withstand Atlas forces for nearly a week? They barely acted competent enough for regular law enforcement. Winter chided herself, reminding herself that even the most lackluster of soldier could be transformed into a threat under proper management. She could only assume that those in charge of this little take over were far beyond their kin in terms of intelligence, in fact she hoped that was the case. If not, then she would have to put in a call for the Atlesian military to have a complete overhaul in terms of training, because this was ridiculous.

To give them credit where credit was due, the Uruk forces were much more competent as she wiped out their Archer positions one by one, she listened to battle reports coming in from the few other Atlas Specialists who were also depriving the enemy of their armaments. Perhaps that first trio were simply ineffective compared to their comrades, who put up much more of a fight despite being no match for trained specialists like them. Free hostages, fight Uruks, take out their archers, it was easy but slow moving due to the sheer number of Uruks within the quarry. Winter had been warned of their numbers, but hadn't expected this many. They had an entire small army crawling around this place, making their individual weaknesses seem less exploitable.

But she noticed that as she went about taking down their defenses that the numbers of Uruks decreased. It wasn't just the ones she was killing either it was that the Archers were less defended as time went on. Some watchtowers and strategic locations were simply empty and the hostages had been dragged deeper into the quarry towards the entrance of a large mine that ran down along a dust vein. She could assume that they were planning on refortifying that location solely with most of their forces since their spread out archer posts proved easy pickings for specialists like herself.

After hearing that the Atlesian military broke through the front line of Uruk Defenses, Winter figured she may as well start looking for one of their commanders. Which led her to a dirt hill overlooking the entrance to the mine, at its sides were two Watchtowers. Leading from the watchtowers were several electrical cables that connected to what seemed to be generators.

In front of the gate were a mass of Uruks all herding hostages and containers of dust into the bowels of the mine. But her focus was instead drawn to three peculiar Uruks which stood apart from the rest, one average looking Uruk who wore armor made of bones, a slightly larger Uruk with thick armor covering his torso and one even larger fat Uruk who looked as though he had flames bursting from his candle-like helmet. The design looked odd enough, yet even more odd were the fiery axes strapped to his back which seemed to cause him no discomfort despite burning with intensity. The other two Uruks seemed to be arguing with the fiery one, who seemed to stubbornly object to whatever they said.

Satisfied with identifying what looked like the final stand of the Uruks and what could be considered their higher soldiers, Winter prepared to contact her team when a familiar whistling sound reached her ears and forced her to her feet immediately. She leaped away just as explosive arrows riddled her previous location, bracing herself on a glyph she summoned beneath her before leaping away as that too was soon bombarded by arrows. They were coming from up above, yet the only elevated position which she could spot which provided that kind of angle on her position were the cliffs surrounding the quarry. She could only ponder on the location of the archer for a moment before remembering that the attack had driven her into the open.

"Hey!" she turned to see the Candle-Top Uruk pull his flaming axes from his back "You mess up my boys! I cook your face and wear it on chest! Show all what happen to those who mess with my boys!"

The other Uruk leaders didn't seem to share his enthusiasm, as the one in the bone armor immediately yelled "Kruk, are you or are you not the daftest sod in all the lands? Call back your Uruks and help us defend!"

He looked like he was about to say more when the third Uruk in heavy armor halted him "Just-let-him-have-this." he said in what may have been the slowest speech pattern Winter had ever heard in her life "Never-enough-meat-shields. We'll-go."

With that the heavily-armored Uruk turned and jogged towards the mine entrance, the bone-armored Uruk glanced back for a moment before scampering after him. Kruk held her gaze with a smug look that didn't seem to fit an individual with his type of vocabulary. Despite his obvious lack of intelligence in comparison to the other two leaders, the fact that he was ranked higher than the majority of Uruks meant he should at least be more powerful on average.

And the other regular Uruks around them didn't seem keen on helping him, as many seemed to be fleeing the battles occurring elsewhere in the quarry. The sounds of battle in the distance convinced Winter that that was not the case for all of them, perhaps Kruk's soldiers putting up stubborn resistance. She spotted an archer ascending one of the watchtowers near the mine entrance and stood firm as Kruk charged.

He swung his axes faster than the regular Uruks, that was for sure, but Winter dodged them with ease and managed to retaliate effectively as he reared for a follow-up. Kruk stumbled back, looking a bit miffed that his first attack was countered. He stood straight and let out a roar before leaping towards her, Winter side stepped as he raked both Axes through the ground and brought her blade across his torso only for an unexpectedly familiar flash of light to dull the attack. Though he seemed agitated by another failed attack, his body showed no sign of the cuts which appeared on those of the other Uruks she'd fought today. Was that... an Aura?

She had little time to mull over that thought as Kruk seemed through with her constant dodging of his attacks, he raised an axe and bellowed "Douse me!" Winter wondered what he implied by that until the archer in the watchtower took out a pouch of liquid and lobbed it onto Kruk. It burst and covered his upper torso in a foul smelling fluid, but the Uruk leader smirked before bringing one of his flaming axes towards his drenched flesh. Almost immediately the top half of his body was engulfed in an inferno, but he just bellowed out a chuckle before charging her yet again with almost no care for the flames covering nearly every bit of his exposed skin.

This time Winter had to give Kruk a wide berth, preparing a glyph right before another arrow came whizzing at her from the side. Rolling under it she pointed her sword towards the Uruk Archer intending on dealing with him quickly, but was halted when she had to dodge another arrow coming from a completely different direction. Whoever these unseen archers were outclassed most of the ones she'd fought earlier, and she was unable to pin one down because of the seemingly random directions they attacked from.

Her attention was recaptured as Kruk charged her again swinging his flaming weapons and arms towards her with a garbled grunt, she managed to roll back out of the way, letting the flaming Uruk ram into one of the generators. Soon he let out a chorus of screams as the wiring of the generator melted and he started jerking as electricity coursed through his veins. Yet once the generator eventually short-circuited and went dead the large Uruk stumbled away looking drastically drained, even his flames died down as he struggled to catch his breath after such a momentous amount of damage was given to what Winter could only label as his aura.

Seeing the other few generators still functional Winter formed a plan and lunged at the startled Uruk she slashed at him in his dazed state, using her Glyphs to attack whichever side he left undefended as soon as he covered one. She did this until she spotted another Arrow coming from behind Kruk, she leaped backwards away from him but the arrow passed right through the crook of his arm and stayed on trajectory with her, prompting her to roll to the side as the arrow instead pierced a generator behind her and caused it to explode. She placed a rune at her feet to keep from being blown away by the force of the explosion, glancing up just in time to see another flammable pouch impact against Kruk's body. He set himself ablaze and charged her with more ferocity this time, spurred on by the series of seemingly random arrows which seemed to provide him with covering fire.

Winter struggled a bit more with this one, and so quickly placed a summoning Glyph on the ground before leaping out of the way of more flaming axe swings. Kruk went to follow back after her but was held back by a sudden claw which dug into his back, he turned to see a large white Beowolf gripping onto him. It leaped onto the flaming Uruk and dragged him to the ground, as the two fought Winter avoided another series of arrows this time seeming to come from above. Prioritizing, she turned to the Uruk Archer who had been supplying Kruk with flammable liquid to ignite himself with.

As she took off running towards the watchtower he seemed to notice her intentions and dropped the pouches to grab his crossbow, loading and firing it at the incoming Schnee. Winter leaped over it onto another glyph which launched her towards the Watchtower, the archer brought up his bow again only to attempt to block the incoming slash of her blade. She cut straight through the wooden crossbow and slashed at the archer, the force throwing him out of the watchtower. As he plummeted to the ground, Winter turned to see how well her Beowolf was faring against Kruk only to spot another series of arrows speeding towards her. She quickly summoned a glyph to propel herself from the watchtower as the arrows pierced the pouches of flammable liquid.

The Watchtower exploded, pieces of it flying to and fro as the burning husk lost balance and tumbled to the ground in front of the mine entrance. Winter landed on the ground nearby and looked up just to see Kruk wrap his arm around one of her beowolf's arms and repeatedly slam his axe into its head as it swiped at him with his free arm. Already familiar with the formula, Winter rolled forward out of the way of several more arrows and darted towards the distracted Kruk. The large Uruk yanked the Beowolf away from him after getting sufficiently agitated with its swipes, sending it stumbling towards Winter a bit as it struggled to gain purchase. Instead it was blasted apart by arrows, falling apart into white smoke with a flash of light as it was overwhelmed by the barrage.

Winter had taken pause to avoid getting caught in the explosion, and looked up just in time to see Kruk leap through the smoke at her whilst still burning. Lunging under his axe swing Winter summoned a quick glyph which Kruk's momentum carried him onto, flinging him towards yet another generator. Apparently having learned his lesson from last time, Kruk turned and swung an axe down as he approached the generator. It cleaved into the ground and ceased his momentum before the previous scene could reenact itself.

However, Winter created a much smaller glyph as the Uruk pulled himself to his feet, and soon a small white nevermore flew from the glyph and soared above before slicing through the electrical cables above. Kruk glared at her and prepared another lunge when said electrical wires collapsed upon his body and electrocuted him once again. Winter prepared to dodge out of the way of more arrows, only to find none speeding towards her, instead...

"Miss Schnee!" came the call of one of the Atlesian troops who came running towards her, behind them a squad of Atlesian Knights who immediately went about securing the area. The sounds of battle previously coming from the rest of the Quarry had diminished greatly. As she took a breath, she stood tall and turned back to see Kruk collapse to his knees as he tried unsuccessfully to recover from his most recent electrocution.

"The majority of the Quarry has been secured, ma'am." one of the Soldiers said as the rest aimed their guns at the dazed Uruk "Straggling Uruk forces are being repressed as we speak."

Winter gestured to the mine "Most of their forces seemed to have retreated into the mine, we'll need to engage them soon before they can set up further defenses."

"Yes Ma'am, what about him?" The soldier gestured to Kruk

"We'll need to interrogate him, though he may be lacking in the informational department." Winter conceded "However what we gain from any captured Uruks could be used to contest with those inside the-"

Before she could finish the familiar sound of arrows reached her ears "Take Cover!" she immediately yelled to the Atlesians, however the arrows whizzed right past them and instead collided with the ceiling of the mine entrance before exploding. Almost immediately the ceiling caved in and collapsed upon the entrance, packing it with rock and destroyed supports.

The Atlesian soldiers stared for only a moment, waiting to see if any more would follow, Winter turned to trace the trajectory of the arrows only to see the walls of the quarry. Fighting back a scowl Winter turned on Kruk and grabbed the defeated uruk.

"The archers who assisted you in battle, where are they?!" her patience with those damn arrows had been worn thinner than she anticipated over the course of the battle.

"I...no feel my bones." Kruk muttered before almost immediately losing consciousness.

* * *

 **A strange little thought that came to mind after playing a bit of Shadow of Mordor, battling some of the more interesting Uruks in that Game I wondered what they'd be like in worlds not of their own. Then after watching several episodes of RWBY this idea just started growing from there. Though I have an idea of where I'd like it to go I've strayed away from actually writing on here for quite some time, so I can't exactly vouch for how well my writing style holds up.**

 **** **This is set between Volume 2 and 3 but closer to 3 in terms of timeline, so for all you RWBY fans who haven't been disarmed yet I'm happy to say knowledge of Volume 3 is extremely recommended but not completely necessary.**

 **I most definitely feel as though I'll need to redo parts of this at a later date, but after struggling to start for nearly a month now I feel that this is the closest to a proper first chapter that seems acceptable. It may or may not take as long to build the next chapter off from here considering I've got a plot already in my head, b** **ut I'll see how this is received and work from there.**

 **EDIT: Finally got around to Redoing this chapter, fixing lots of things to make it sound overall better and whatnot. Hopefully its more easier to read and enjoy now.**


	2. Chapter 2: The Concern

**Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of The Rings, the Middle-Earth universe, Shadow of Mordor or RWBY.**

 **This work will contain moments of intense violence, dark and dirty humor, and canonical divergences.**

* * *

 **The Concern**

"So, these beasts..." Hork spoke slowly as he stared at the cage before him.

He stood with a captain and a group of underlings around a large cage which had been dragged to the edge of a sandstone cliff, inside were one of those...

"Grimm? Correct?" Hork turned to look down at a particularly garish faced Uruk in a dirty apron.

This particular Uruk seemed to be restraining himself, wiping away a small trail of drool from his gruesome lips which had accumulated as he stared at the creature. He then spoke in a nasally voice with surprisingly fluid speech for one as grotesque as he "Y-yes, the tarks of this realm consider these fine... _fine_ specimens as the creatures of Grimm."

"Tarz, how many Uruks did it take to subdue this beast?" Hork asked, ignoring the way the Apron-cladded Uruk began hungrily running a gloved-hand along the serrated blade at his belt.

The Foul-faced Uruk glanced up at the Warchief and his putrid lips stretched into a stomach-churning grin "Only a single whelp sir, scouting party tossed him at the beast and let it maul him while they got the drop on it."

Hork thoughtfully hummed a bit in response as he watched several Uruks throw taunts and jeers at the beast from the sides, it occasionally tried reaching through the bars towards them before shifting around and trying another way to break free.

"So, would these be safe to consume?" Hork asked. Tarz did have the title of Surgeon, what with his skills in the field of health being far above that of the regular Uruk. But considering how much the average Uruk knew about medical practices well... it was no real wonder why Tarz's favorite method of treatment was amputation. Still, if there were any Uruk who would be able to figure out whether these alien creatures were edible-

"Good question," Tarz nodded before raising a finger "lets figure this out through some proper experimentation!"

The Warchief only raised an eyebrow as the Surgeon pulled his serrated, slightly curved sword from his belt and stepped towards the cage. The Beowolf inside was reaching through the bars of its cage towards a particular group of Uruks who had tried thinking up new derogatory terms for the creature and its kin, when a gloved hand wrapped around its wrist and chopped it off. Tarz backed away from the cage as the Beowolf reared back for a moment and released a blood curdling cry of rage, then proceeded to slash at the cage wall in order to reach the smirking Uruk even as he turned away from the cage and raised the claw above his head.

"Who among you worthless peons has the stomach to take the first bite?!" he questioned the crowd, and despite the more cautious Uruks immediately giving each other glances it was inevitable that a chorus of cheers would arise from the rest. Uruks pushed and shoved forward until one snatched the claw from Tarz and immediately sank his teeth into it. There were groans and roars of annoyance which only lasted until the Uruk started coughing.

The crowd went semi-silent as they watched the Uruk cough up some kind of black smoke, he crouched on the ground grabbing at his throat and spewing a few tangible curses through the coughing fit. He tossed the claw away as he rubbed at his throat, the discarded limb soon began dissolving away as well. The black smoke evaporated untril it was no longer visible, leaving the Uruk to begin rubbing at his tongue with his leathery hands.

Tarz turned back to the Warchief, whose expression had soured intensely "Well, I figure that answers your question quite thoroughly now doesn't it?"

"Gah! Beast make mouth bad!" the Taste-tester shouted as soon as he'd cleared enough of his throat, he turned to the cage and pulled his sword from its sheathe "Open cage, I'm gonna kill beast until it dead!"

Excited at the prospect of a grunt taking on a wounded but still very furious monster, many heads turned towards Hork. The massive Uruk rolled his eyes disdainfully and nodded his assent, almost immediately the crowd cheered and began forming a circle around the taste-tester and the cage.

As the fight began, Tarz worked his way back to the Warchief "Hork, I believe we should keep capturing these creatures, if you find no issue with my suggestion."

"Oh? Do you think that perhaps others will not completely dissipate once taken apart?" the Warchief asked as he watched the besmirched lesser Uruk charge the crippled beast

"That is a viable theory we must check, we can not assume that the other variations will be the same no matter what the slaves say. If they were withholding information on just one of them, we could be missing out on quite the source of sustenance."

"And we can't just keep eating Tarks, we need the labor." Hork responded as he watched the Beowolf manage to fling the Uruk to the side

"Correct, if all else fails it should provide good sport for the Captains in between battles."

The Warchief nodded "It should be enough to satisfy the Beast Masters at the least. Very well, but there needs to be a reduced risk of deaths. None of us here have the resources necessary to recreate the spawn-pits, so reinforcing numbers will be next to impossible here. Hm, so what of the tower?"

Tarz raised a finger as his stomach-churning lips stretched into a smile "Ah, yes. Now those funny-eared humans have mentioned that-"

"Master!"

Hork and Tarz paused to see the incoming figure of Dharg rushing towards them from the Castle in the distance. Soon he skidded to a stop before the Warchief and the Surgeon before catching his breath and growling.

"Master, a group of hunters has returned from the east." the Hell-Hawk helmeted bodyguard said

"Ah, have they located Ashgarn?" Hork asked

"Well... yes Master, in Bubol's company as expected, but there's a bigger issue." Dharg stood tall "It seems several of those Unallied Captains may have outed us."

"What?"

"Several of them attacked a Tark quarry, a big one apparently."

Hork's eyes widened for a moment before his mouth stretched into a snarl "They did...what?!"

* * *

They watched with horrified eyes as one of their captors stepped towards them, its spear placed in the same hand which wielded its shield. It stood before them for a moment, forcing many to wonder who it was aiming to attack. However, those expectations were dashed in the face of an even more queer response. The Orcish-looking creature instead placed a hand to his chest...

And sung.

"We have defeated you~! Your blood and bones have been spilled~! Now slavery be your only fate~! Lest you all be killed~!"

"Zog!" came a rough voice which interrupted the Singer before he could bellow another verse "Enough rhymes, get over here and help us sort through this loot."

The large Uruk glanced down at the captured White Fang members for a moment before answering the call, in the center of the recently ravaged camp was a pile of items which another Shield-barer sorted through. The camp was situated in the middle of some dense woodlands, a small scouting post made up of no more than a number of small tents behind one larger tent. There was a small, minimalist structure built into one of the larger trees right underneath its major branches in order to keep from being easily identifiable. Two lookouts were to keep watch on the perimeter with their heightened sight, but in the case that they were incapacitated before they could warn the rest, a third lookout situated on the ground was to alert those sleeping.

It was something the attackers hadn't anticipated, they'd somehow managed to take down the two higher lookouts only for the third one to rat them out before they could start preying on the unconscious Faunus. Despite being able to respond properly they were still overwhelmed by the attackers, and those taken prisoner had been restrained and set off to the side while the attackers looted their small camp. One of these captives tried to pull his arms over his head so he could have at them with his fangs, they hadn't been subdued with metallic restraints so only a few minutes of gnawing would do. He didn't know exactly how he'd be able to do so with the two larger guards that had been left to watch them, any suspicious movement was responded to with the edge of a shield to the face, any annoying words were met with the edge of a shield to the face, and any annoying sounds in general were met with the edge of a shield to the face.

As he watched one of the guards, Zog apparently, go answer the call of his leader, he spotted something else peeking at them from behind one of the tents. Another White Fang soldier, one with the exact same antler horns on her head that he had. His eyes went wide before he jerked his head to the woods behind them, indicating for her to run while one of the guards was busy. She instead shifted her gaze to his restrained arms and made a sawing motion with her hands, he instantly shook his head at her intentions. His sister had kept a knife under her pillow as more of a comforting token, it was pretty small and was most definitely ineffective in a battle against the Grimm let alone these shield and spear wielding monsters.

He shook his head at her, trying to get her to run instead, but she just gave him a hard look before disappearing behind the tent as the Guard left behind stomped over.

"Feeling the jitters eh?" the creature muttered "Ah don't worry, you look like you'd make a strong slave. Lot of meat on your bones, make a good meal too. But ya won't need a pretty face for either so..."

The Guard chuckled a bit before taking a step back and slamming his boot into the Faunus face.

The sister snuck past the tents, careful not to alert the large, shield wielding monsters who wandered about digging through things for loot. There weren't too many, but they'd still be able to easily tear her apart if they all ganged up on her at once. So she moved with as much precision as she could, despite the exhaustion she had felt. She had been one of the lookouts, positioned higher up in the tree above the structure. She had been struck with a sudden sense of exhaustion and had fallen from her perch onto the roof of the tree structure. It was that sound which alerted her fellow Faunus, but when she had come to most of the battle was over and the looting had already begun. The first thing she had thought of after waking was that someone had used a semblance on her, but that was ridiculous. She had been taught that monsters couldn't use things like semblances or Aura because they lacked a soul. And these violent, hideous things were most definitely monsters, though unlike any she had ever seen before in her life.

She had written them off as some strange new type of intelligent Grimm, they had to be... right? Either way she pushed the excessive thinking to the side in favor of retrieving her knife and getting her comrades and brother out of harm's way. She would not abandon him to whatever these things planned to do with them. Whatever it was, odds of it being enjoyable were so far in the ground it could be halfway through the mantle by now. The tent she and her brother slept in was on the other side of the camp, and since the center of the camp was where the most of the attackers were she opted to skirt around the edge until she stalled at the sight of two of them eyeing the lookout structure in the tree above. She quickly peaked past the nearest tent to see that the junction between it and the next was graciously empty. The only immediate threat being the crouched form of one of the monsters looking through a pile of weapons and such which had been assembled outside the largest tent.

The Deer-Faunus smothered her anxiety and moved forward, keeping her eyes glued to the back of the crouched attacker as she moved to the next tent, pausing only when she saw Zog stand next to him.

"Captain Kothug," Zog said in his bellowing voice as he approached the crouched form of his captain "what exactly do you require?"

"Help me figure out which of these blades would look nice on my spear." Kothug said as he lifted another White Fang sword and eyed it up and down.

"For...your spear?"

"Yeah, I wanna nice, new-lookin' spear to show off to the boys." the captain arose and gestured to the sharp edge of his weapon "Thought all this metal would be quite useful to the Bladesmith."

"What about the blasters?" Zog gestured towards one of the guns in the piles "Don't know how safe it'd be if Ratlug tried melting them down."

"No worries, Bubol said he'd take 'em off our hands." Kothug stated calmly

The sister made her way past the junction to the next tent, where she could pick up on pieces of the conversation between the two Shielded creatures looking up at the lookout tree.

"So, dat ding duh Captain did." one of them began in a confused tone "How dat work again?"

"Seriously?" another one asked in a bored tone "Didn't he explain that like a week ago?"

"Well uh, me forget." the confused one began "Not my fault explanation stupid!"

"Then what makes you think you won't immediately forget this either, you stupid glob?" the bored voice responded with a sigh

The sister moved along, now skirting the back of the large tent she could see the flaps of her tent. As she snuck closer to it, she once again heard the Captain and Zog's conversation.

"-yeah after that Bubol's gonna send the clothes and extra stuff over to Pug as well." Kothug spoke

"Wait, what?" the Singer questioned, the audible sound of him scratching at his scalp reached her "Why would Pugrish need their clothing?"

Just as Kothug began answering, a third voice piped in with "Doesn't really matter, he'd look adorable in whatever he'd wear!"

It sounded sickly, as if it was trying to speak through a throat clogged by mucus, yet it was still as enthusiastic as a child at a birthday party. As the voice had spoken, the sound of Zog's startled yelp was followed by something heavily falling to the ground preceding the sound of scrambling limbs.

"Oi, we was just talkin' about ya." Kothug said as he stood and gestured to the pile "Come down 'ere and check out the haul!"

Bubol's sick laughter rang out as the Faunus made her way to the edge of her tent, she turned to glance in the direction of that giddy voice but could only see the back of Kothug staring at something out of her view "Aw, you brought a present for me Kothug! How gracious of you! However, it saddens me to say there will be no trade today."

Kothug paused and stood at full height before folding his arms "And why is that?"

"Well I'm gonna be too busy of course!" an average sized figure in the shrubbery stepped forward just a bit before clapping his hands together "Got me a fancy date tonight with your beautiful corpse!"

Kothug paused at that, two more of his underlings stepping away from the tents to join him as he growled at the figure.

"But, we got all these weapons just for you and your pals." Kothug began as he gestured towards the loot at his feet "Ain't we been supplyin' a lot actually? What would Pugrish think if-"

"Don't care, my sweet!" Bubol interrupted happily before raising a gnarled claw "Puggy doesn't really care where his toys come from or how much, just that he gets a cut. Remember, he's crazier than I am!"

Kothug growled again before roaring back to the tents, "Uruks, to arms!

The Faunus heard heavy footsteps coming from inside her tent and quickly moved to the side as another large creature charged out from inside before moving towards his leader. She waited a moment in case there were more, before checking inside and slipping in. As expected it had been torn up, several traveling cases were torn open and emptied of all things they considered important, the rest of the contents lying on the ground. She moved to her sleeping bag, only to find her pillow torn and half and the knife gone. She didn't have long to stew over her misfortune as she heard Kothug's angry speech from outside.

"Zog, you and Rat-Head move the prisoners out of the way, I don't want this traitorous shrakh killin' our winnins!"

It was followed by a gruff sound which the Faunus could only hazard to guess was one of compliance before a heavy set of footsteps traveled away. The deer-Faunus considered the pros and cons of her brother and the other captives being moved away rom what seemed like an incoming brawl, when a glint of metal caught her eye. Her knife had been tossed insultingly on a torn open travel pack. Perhaps it was too small to be included with the rest of the weapons they'd taken, if the tips of their spears or the swords at their belts were any indication these Uruk monsters liked big blades. And while they were right at its lack of use for direct combat, it was still perfectly capable of cutting through things like the bindings which restrained her brother and the others.

But as she pocketed the knife, she heard the roars of the creatures confronting this Bubol thing start to get louder "You're gonna regret showin' me how to tap into that witchcraft, you runt!" Kothug yelled as the sound of mechanical happenings became apparent under the yelling of the shield-barers.

"Oh my, so many at once!" Bubol's filthy voice devolved into more cackling "Don't worry my pets, daddy's gonna show each and every one you a little lovin', so's you don't feel lonely~!"

As he said that the sound of something mechanical shifting a bit reached the Sister's ears as she slipped out of her tent. This was good, if she could locate the others while they were fighting she might be able to sneak this to her brother. She could use herself as a distraction and get the Singer guy and whoever Rat-Head was away from the prisoners while her brother freed them. She thought more on that plan as she moved behind the large tent, when the sounds of explosions started.

Streaks of flame flew over the large tent, topped with a flaming Uruk landing right in front of her and immediately writhing madly as his flesh burned. He was blocking her path, and the sounds of roaring Uruks and screaming projectiles was getting close. She changed direction and ran to the edge of the camp again, putting as much distance as she could between herself and the violent confrontation. Thankfully it seemed the two who were watching the lookout perch had joined their captain in fighting that Bubol thing.

Before she could get past it, another explosion launched another Uruk directly into the lookout's perch, destroying him and the perch as well. As chunks of debris fell from the ruined perch, with some planks of wood still dangling from the ruins, the Deer-Faunus jumped back as Kothug himself stumbled back against the lookout tree. Something was hanging onto his metal shield, she couldn't get too good of a look at it as Kothug was shaking his shield in order to dislodge it. What she could make out wasn't pretty in the slightest, significantly smaller than Kothug and his cronies, whatever this Bubol thing was had large boils and diseased flesh covering the majority of the right side of its body.

He scrambled to throw an arm over Kothug's shield, and only now Sister realized the limb had some odd metal thing attached to it. Bubol pointed the arm-mounted thing at Kothug, who seemed to realize what he was attempting because he suddenly pushed forward with enough force to throw Bubol off his shield. As the disgusting cretin fell the thing on his arm discharged a bolt-like projectile which missed Kothug completely and instead snapped one of the perch's dangling wooden planks in half. Bubol landed on his feet and immediately raised his arm again as Kothug reoriented himself and another Shielded Uruk charged him from behind.

A hook-like mechanism fired from the wrist mounted contraption before somehow managing to attach itself to the piece of falling wood, as Kothug readied his spear the chord zipped back. Bubol caught the chord with his free hand, twirling it and the piece of wood which ended up sinking into the skull of the Uruk behind him. Kothug dashed forward with his spear, only for the chord to begin pulling again. The now dead Uruk's body was yanked towards Bubol as the hook detached and the sickly monster slid out of the corpse's way. Kothug raised his shield to catch the body, before tossing it to the side into a nearby tent and pursuing the diseased Uruk.

The Sister had been panicking since the battle had started, that dread just grew as it raged on. She needed to free the others before either side won, and the now present threat of the explosive grappler currently fighting their captors only doubled her previous number of concerns. To her great surprise they weren't far from where they were seated previously, deeper into the tree line but still visible from the camp. She could see Zog readjusting their restraints, he kept nervously looking back towards the camp. Wasn't there another one he was supposed to be guarding with? Another explosion convinced her that that would be answered later, so she kept low and moved through the shrubbery.

The captives seemed to be just as worried about the fighting nearby as she was, but her brother's face immediately shifted into a look of anger as he spotted her sneaking towards them. He continued motioning for her to run, which she replied to by throwing her knife to him. It landed next to him, and he seemed to snarl in resignation as he looked down at it. His fingers pulled it towards him, but as he looked back up at her his eyes grew wide. Getting the message, she spun around quickly only for the edge of a spear to slam into her gut and lift her off her feet. She was dragged through the air by the weapon and launched back towards the camp, she skidded along the ground for a moment before slamming into the wall of one of the smaller tents and bringing it down.

Her Aura managed to soak up the brunt of the attack, but she had been part of this _scouting_ team for a reason. Coupled with the fact that she still hadn't fully recovered from that sleep trick they'd used on her before, and it was easy to see why she struggled to suck in the air which had been beaten out of her. As she scrambled onto her hands and knees, she spotted her attacker stepping out of the underbrush. That was probably Rat-Head, who from the ratty hair and sideburns along with the incredibly exaggerated front teeth she could easily say was named correctly.

"Huh, so we missed one of you during clean-up eh?" Rat-Head said with a chuckle "Easy mistake to fix."

He turned back to Zog, who was alternating between staring at them and glancing over to the camp, the Singer jerked nervously as Rat-Head yelled back to him "Oi! You watch them while I deal with this treat 'ere!"

Zog's look of shock mirrored the Sister's, she'd been hoping the willingness to follow his leader's orders would've made the Rat-Like Uruk lean towards letting her go in order to help keep guard. But as he turned back to her she could immediately tell that the idea of killing her was far more appealing to him. Zog seemed to think so to, and as Rat-Head pointed his spear towards she could see her brother slowly working his way through the restraints while Zog was distracted.

What with his nerves already being fried by the overwhelming sense of danger the battle was giving off, the Sister figured the best thing she could do at this point was lead Rat-Head away to make their escape easier. Zog seemed too distracted to do much on his own, so the Deer-Faunus slowly got to her hands and knees as Rat-Head began stomping towards her. She scrambled off the tent she'd flattened, heading deeper into camp with the small realization that the sounds of battle had faded. Now there was little more than the sounds of burning tents. She didn't have too long to wonder about it, as Rat-Head proved himself far faster than a beast with that kind of equipment should be. She was able to outpace him, but just barely, managing to duck into an open tent. She held still, waiting until she heard his heavy footsteps pass by followed by an angry snarl as he tried to spot her.

"Oh come on you stupid Tark, I ain't one for merry chases." Rat-head muttered as he took a look over the tents "Why not just come out 'ere and let me stab ya dead and get it over with?"

As he turned to see if she had somehow wound around the tents behind him, the Sister moved to the other end of the tent where the cloth wall had been cut by the blade of a fallen monster. Crawling over it she made her way out of the tent and paused to listen, hearing Rat-Head's grumbling as he poked at another tent with his spear. Okay, now that he was busy looking for her through the tents all she had to do now was circle around behind him and get back to her brother whose hopefully already released the others. Then they could make a break and hopefully lose their pursuers in the woods. Rat-Head was a tall creature, choices were limited as he'd spot her if she tried rushing back too quickly.

Rat-Head stomped over the corpse of another one of his dead comrades, mind set firmly on pulling that damn filth's skull out and showing it to her. He was having an internal struggle over how exactly he was going to do that seeing as it seemed far too physically impossible for someone even as strong as him to pull off. It was as this was going through his head that he heard it, the sound of a wooden shield being stepped on.

"Gotcha," Rat-Head grinned as he strode through the tents towards the sound "now I'm gonna turn your skull into a cup to drink my grog from you stupid Tark!"

As he strode towards the sound, Sister darted to the rear of the large tent, having successfully distracted him through simple use of a corpse's shield and a path provided by torn tents. She didn't dare move in front of the large tent on the off chance that whoever survived the battle was still there, so she went along the rear. The Deer-Faunus paused however, as there was a massive hole cut through a section of the rear tent. Leaking out of it were ghastly sounds, and there was no convenient tent path set around it unless she risked getting spotted by Rat-Head. So instead she took a small peak inside, seeing the hunched form of Bubol chopping at the corpse of Kothug.

His diseased back was toward her, giving her inclination to sneak across the hole whilst he was distracted with his maiming. She was just about to dart across when a hand wrapped around the back of her head and lifted her off her feet, Her worst fears where confirmed when she heard Rat-head's chuckle. The large shield-barer turned her around to face him, the smug look on his rat-like face making her sick in addition to scared.

"Ha!" he mocked as he raised his spear in his free hand "You gonna bleed long for giving me a hassle, you was gonna bleed anyway but eh... now you'll bleed more!"

With that said he tossed her right onto her back, she scrambled back but was unable to get out of the range of his spear which was jabbed at her gut only to bounce off her wavering aura.

"Stupid witchcraft takin' all the fun outta killing tarks." Rat-head muttered as he approached with another jab "Oh well, allows me to get to hear you scream longer."

She knew that wouldn't be the case, surviving two attacks from that massive spear was one thing, but with her aura so low she was assured it would shatter under a third-

Then the arrow came...

It just came out of the large tent's rear wall, piercing Rat-head's Aura and into his head almost immediately. Both the Uruk and the Faunus just stared at each other for a moment, both too shocked to do anything.

Then it exploded, and the force threw the Sister away before the impact with the ground rendered her unconscious.

...

...

...

...

She struggled to move her head, the dull throbbing in her skull amplified by the high-pitched whistling. Her eyes could open, though they were blurred heavily. The figure moving in front of her had nary a single defining trait, but the horrendous growths covering a portion of his body was enough to confirm it as Bubol. He was whistling with that diseased mouth of his, free hand occasionally stroking something he had clutched under his other arm.

He seemed to be gazing at the ground around him for something, occasionally looking at her before moving on. Finally, he glanced at a nearby tree and stopped whistling.

"Come on out sweetness, I'm not gonna hurt ya." He cooed as he began tapping the thing under his arm, when he got no reply he cackled and spoke again "Already know ya there love. Don't make me have to give ya a good walloping eh?"

He was about to offer another coercion when a large form stepped out from behind the tree, with her eyes clearing up a little she could easily identify the form as Zog.

"Why wouldn't you kill me?" Zog asked, before nodding towards the smoking remains of the camp "You don't seem to have any inability to do so."

"Oh of course I could decorate half of this forest with your tantalizing innards, pally." Bubol mentioned with a casual smile as he began petting the thing under his arm "But I heard that little jig o yours before strolling along in here. I could never take such dulcet tones from the world."

Zog seemed surprised for a while, then leaned forward a bit "Y-you actually liked my song?"

Bubol nodded "Always like a good verse or two in my head when I gut someone." he shrugged "Makes it all the more soothing, 'sides I need ya to deliver a message for me."

Zog glanced at his own weapon and shield "I'm not exactly the fastest Uruk."

"Doesn't matter when it gets there, just that it does." Bubol acknowledged before sticking a thumb back in Sister's direction "Ya do this for me, and ya can even keep her around! Ain't I just the most generous of sorts?!"

The diseased monstrosity descended into giggles, shaking in humor as Zog stared at the wounded Faunus "So... I have to carry her too?"

"Think of it this way mate! You'll never survive the trip back to the West without your boys, so maybe having a ready diversion on hand would be nice yesss?"

"I don't like the idea of what saying no would imply for me~!"Zog sang slowly, with one hand placed to his chest "If you wish for me to play courier then so shall it be~!"

The smaller creature let out a small cheer of delight before sauntering forward and standing on his tiptoes to whisper in Zog's ear.

The Singer nodded in response to the words, before stepping back and nodding to the diseased monster and approaching the wounded Faunus "Sure, I'll go grab it and bring it to him. But why couldn't you do it?" he asked back to Bubol "You're much quicker than me, not that I mind being allowed to live and all."

Bubol shrugged again "Too busy, gonna be all types of busy for the next couple o days." He shook the thing under his arm "I mean today alone I'm gonna have to show this beauty some tender love and care, afterwards I gotta go get Ashy to go hunt down those tarks ya let run off. I'm sure you'll be fine, stop worrying."

They ran off? They actually made it away? Despite the throbbing pain she felt on large portion of her body the Faunus gave a small smile as she prayed they could escape whatever beast this Psycho sends after them. As she thought that she felt herself being hoisted up and slung across Zog's shoulder, the singer turning back to the Archer and muttering "If you say so."

Zog turned and began walking away, and as Sister glanced up at the disgusting creature's retreating form she saw a face frozen in shock staring back at her. Before she passed out once again, the last thing she saw was the terrified, severed head of Captain Kothug under Bubol's arm.

* * *

"Ozpin, you have no idea how much of a disadvantage we are in a situation such as this."

"James please, I'm more than aware of the precarious nature of our position."

Winter stood at attention behind the subdued yet struggling form of Kruk, dressed up in a plain jumpsuit often used for prisoners. Before them was a screen portraying the office of Headmaster Ozpin, who was sharing the space with a very irate looking General Ironwood.

"How are the people supposed to react to a whole army of unknown origin reeking havoc on unsuspecting travelers?!" Ironwood questioned before attempting to regain his temper

"I know General, believe me I do." Ozpin assured him before turning towards the screen and saying "But surely there are some of you willing to broker some form of agreement perhaps? Something to lessen this obvious aggression you show for our people."

"You no fool me tark!" Kruk barked "As soon as me done bashing in white lady skull, me round up boys, roast many tarks you hear me? MANY!"

"This is ridiculous," Ironwood gave a small groan "not one of them shows anything other aggression?"

"Interrogations with the others captured at the Quarry have yielded similar results, sir. And from personal experience I can only assume shows of force will encourage more of this behavior." Winter confirmed with a strict nod.

"Ozpin, every single one of these things is out for our blood seemingly without reason." Ironwood said through clenched teeth, his face revealing the concern which threatened to overtake his anger "If what this thing says is true then there are small armies of these things all over the wilderness around both Vale and Vacuo, we can keep _her_ involvement in the recent Grimm attack under wraps but somebody's going to notice a whole new race of hostile creatures soon."

"I know General," Ozpin interrupted with a sigh before placing a hand to his chin and walking over to his desk "but now we know where at least one of their main bases of operation is."

"Oz, you know as well as I do that there are dozens of old strongholds left over from the great war." the General said as he clenched his fists lightly at his sides "Vacuo was a warzone back then and the landscape's only gotten worst over time, we'd never be able to search it all before their existence is made public."

"Place sandy, what more tark want?" Kruk shouted before narrowing his eyes

"This Warchief, as you call him, what exactly are his goals?" Ozpin asked as he gestured to the enraged captain.

"Don't know, left before he woke." the Uruk grumbled "No like his voice, followed other Chiefless."

"These were an assembly of deserters," Ironwood pointed out "and they took hold of an entire SDC quarry for nearly a week. We got lucky with that, if the SDC wasn't so generous in helping us cover it up we'd be facing panic a single Grimm attack could only dream of stirring up. If those Warchiefs actually mobilize their forces in a coordinated manner..."

"Hm," Ozpin contemplated this for a moment before turning back to the subdued Uruk "Who orchestrated the attack?"

"Archer," Kruk pointed out plainly, prompting Winter to scoff.

"That's the only manner in which he describes him," the Schnee said as she folded her arms "others captured have given us the name Bubol the Diseased."

The two Headmasters gave each other looks before Ironwood pressed "Diseased? Why?"

"Apparently the monster in question is actually afflicted with some type of disease. According to the Uruks he was the one who showed them how to use red dust with their crossbows, kept SDC security and Atlesian response at bay for the majority of the occupation."

"He learned how to use Dust?" Ozpin asked eyes narrowing at the implications

"Hah! If got somethin' to do wit crossbow, he learn quick!" Kruk jeered from his position before jerking around in his restraints once more

"Perhaps he doesn't know of its other uses besides application to weaponry?" Ironwood suggested

"We can only hope." Ozpin spoke

"Sir, if I may?" Winter spoke up, eventually receiving a nod from her superior "The Uruks label Bubol as a nearly unmatched Archer, leading me to suspect he may have been the one harassing me during my confrontation with Captain Kruk."

"But in your report you mentioned the arrows came from various sources." Ironwood pointed out

"Yes sir, but with the identical attack pattern I can't help but bring up the possibility of some type of semblance he-"

"Probably pully thing." interrupted Kruk who was busy trying to unsuccessfully chew through his restraints

Winter and the two Headmasters looked at the restrained Captain before Ozpin asked the question on their mind "Pully thing?"

"Yeah, coward got pully thing on crossbow." the Uruk grumbled as he found his teeth having no effect on his bindings "Got it from brown lady."

"Brown lad-" Ozpin's eyes widened a bit before stepping closer to the screen "You're saying this Uruk acquired a Bow, with a pulling mechanism, from a brown-themed female recently?"

"You don't think..." Ironwood slowly looked up as he realized where this was going

"I don't want to be right on this general. But if its true, then we need to know."

Kruk's frown deepened before glancing to the side "Yeah, got stupid Pinkskin toy before raid, no deserve it!"

"Before the raid..." Ozpin sighed before glancing at his fellow Headmaster "The possibility of it being Russet's weapon is too great to ignore."

"He managed to kill a Huntress like her?" Ironwood's concern was far more pronounced now

"Wha-? No! No no!" the Flame Captain barked in an insulted manner before Ironwood and Ozpin could go on "He no kill tark! He cheat! He get help!"

Ozpin blinked for a moment before asking "What do you mean he had help?"

"He try use own Uruks! She beat them!" Kruk growled a bit "He get Pugrish to kill her! No fight honorably!"

"Didn't seem to care much for honor when he was helping you." Winter muttered

"Pugrish? Is he another Captain like you?"

The Uruk nodded grumpily "No fair use Pugrish, too good at killing! Lucky Pug left for new hunt, no more help Bubol 'till finished."

"Care to elaborate on what exactly a new hunt means?"

"Hunter Pinkskins," Kruk's mouth stretched into a grin at that "Pug left for Hunters. Go where they are and kill, left after help with brown lady."

Ironwood and Ozpin stared at the screen for a while, before Ozpin stepped forward "Huntsmen? He's actively hunting huntsmen?"

As Ozpin watched Kruk give a thick chuckle, the sudden chime of the General's scroll drew his attention "I thought you silenced that?"

"I did." Ironwood insisted as he took out the device and opened it "Must be one of the emergency lines I-"

The General paused as he read over the alert, eyes narrowing as he reread it, giving his fellow Headmaster cause for concern.

"General?" Ozpin inquired

Ironwood turned to look at Ozpin, glanced down at his scroll once more before angrily stating "I've just lost all contact with one of my excavation teams."

* * *

Zaffre charged through the cold tunnel, vaulting over another crate and eventually coming across a catwalk. Below the catwalk was a metallic floor several yards down covered in overturned tables and broken chairs along with several bodies of the excavation team he was here to oversee, with the rest of the upheld platform leading to another part of the cave. Zaffre swallowed nervously and started running when the entirety of the catwalk's rear gave out, he turned back to see both of the thick wires holding it up had been cut. The culprit standing just past the Catwalk's beginning being a scrawny Uruk in blue attire wielding a spear, he shrugged as more figures came running behind him.

The Atlesian immediately began climbing the falling catwalk to attempt to get to the next section of it when a massive figure launched into the platform and dislodged it from its other pieces. Zaffre instead kicked off the falling platform, landing on one of the tables as the catwalk collided with the ground.

"Nowhere to go." the large figure muttered as it turned to face Zaffre, like the other three who attacked this site he wore blue trousers and white and blue war paint over every piece of exposed flesh. Like the spear thrower and a third Uruk of the others he wore a metal helmet with organic-looking horns poking out of it, but what distinguished him from his accomplices was his extremely muscular form.

Zaffre flexed his wrists. Immediately the two bracers on his wrists responded by sliding two extremely thin purple and blue blades out. The Atlas Specialist could easily spot the room's exit, getting past the figure blocking his path was another thing entirely. As if to taunt him the Uruk crunched his knuckles together before charging. Zaffre immediately slid out of the way of the first punch only for a leg to sweep his feet out from under him before he could finish getting past the large brute. As he rolled to the side, he spotted the true source of that leg, another blue Uruk of much more reasonable physical appearance bearing the exact same attire as the other save for metal bracers on his arms and legs, ones which were easily identifiable as Atlesian in design.

"Aw, leaving so soon there pinky?" the Bracer said with a chuckle as the Brute arose and charged immediately, Zaffre darted to the side, aiming for the exit again only for the other Uruk to slide into his path once more. This time Zaffre swung his right wrist, which the Bracer easily slid out of the way of. Several more slashes were either deflected by the Uruk's arm attachments or dodged entirely, until Zaffre leaped to the side to avoid a rear attack from the Brute. What he wasn't expecting was the larger Uruk continuing the swing with enough momentum to grab the Specialist with his other hand before he could move out of the way.

All of a sudden he was pulled off the ground and swung with enough force to make him crack against the wall of the cave, aura flaring brightly as he slid down it to his feet. He opened his eyes just in time to see the Bracer hop into the outstretched hand of the Brute, who launched the smaller Uruk towards him. Zaffre rolled out of the way just as the Bracer's feet connected with the wall, the nimble creature leaping off it towards the Specialist who just barely ducked out of the way of a sweeping kick. He spun back and leaped over another Brutish swing only for his world to go white as searing electricity stabbed his aura from behind.

He lunged forward away from the source, turning to find the scrawny Uruk from before wielding a spear which had electricity spitting from its tip. The Spear-Wielder took no time in giving him a superior smirk before launching the weapon at him. Zaffre rolled out of the way more only to be caught on another one of the Brute's fists. It rammed into his gut, forcing his Aura to go into overdrive in order to keep it from tearing through him. He slammed against another wall before falling onto a table below, groaning loudly in pain as he looked up to see the three blue themed Uruks spread out and surround him. He could see the exit right past them, he just needed to be quick.

Praying that his Aura can hold out for the next few minutes, the Atlesian stood tall as the scrawny-Uruk pulled another spear from the pouch on his back. The Bracer, quickest out of the three, charged forward before leaping onto the desk. Zaffre stabbed at him several times before kicking up a discarded plate, the Bracer apparently hadn't anticipated this as he couldn't manage to move out of the way before the plate smashed against his head. As soon as he stumbled to the side Zaffre slid out of the way of a massive punch which ended up breaking the table. With two out of his way momentarily, he leaped off the now-broken table and charged the spear-thrower head on.

The Uruk frowned at him before leaning back and lobbing another spear at him, Zaffre slid under the spear and past the thrower before the creature could obtain another spear. Rising to his feet, the Specialist felt his heart leap into his throat at the sight of the fourth and final attacker blocking the tunnel he was aiming for. Zaffre steeled his will and kept his aim true even as the other Uruks behind him recuperated and began their pursuit once more. He sent his left blade swinging towards the fourth, who somehow slid entirely out of the way of the blade and off to the side in a single step. With his path now unobstructed, the Atlesian stumbled a bit before picking up speed. He could hear the sound of the Uruks loudly arguing a bit behind him, but the still persistent sound of their footsteps convinced him that pausing to hear was not a wise choice in the slightest.

Soon the tunnel he was in opened into a large cave with some high powered lights set up, several had been knocked carelessly down sending their beams in random directions. There were several industrial drills set up against the caverns walls, but those who operated them were most likely killed by the attackers. Near the end of the cavern was another tunnel which would eventually lead him to this site's exit. He dared not slow down, which worked against him when the Bracer leaped off one of the inactive drills and sent his leg into the side of the specialist's face.

Zaffre knew his Aura was in critical condition, he could actually feel the residual pain from that last attack. He stumbled to his feet as the Uruk stood straight, to the side the other attackers assembled after catching up. The Scrawny Uruk prepared to throw yet another electrical spear, but the metal-clad Uruk raised a hand and shook his head.

"No worries, I got this." the Bracer stated with another smug look before flexing a bit and adopting another stance "Make sure Oggie doesn't have a stroke once I win yet another trophy."

The Brute, who he assumed was Oggie, snorted at the implication. The Specialist swallowed nervously, raising his two wrist blades as the smiling Uruk slowly stepped forward. The Bracer took another step before swinging his leg up, Zaffre caught the kick on one blade before swiping at his grounded leg with the other. The Uruk seemed to realize his plan, because he kicked off with his grounded leg before swinging it towards his head. Zaffre lunged back, letting the Uruk fall back to his feet, trying to moderate his attention between the immediate threat and the other three standing off to the side watching.

He glanced back to see one of the industrial drills, and immediately grabbed hold of it, its wheels screeching as he dragged it along the cavern ground and swung it towards the Bracer. Unimpeded, the Uruk leaped on top of the piece of equipment, running along its length before leaping off at the Specialist. Zaffre raised both blades and caught the incoming kick before throwing the Uruk off of him. The creature managed to turn his fall into a roll as he slid back to the drill before immediately swinging one of his arms back against it. The long, drill head of the machine was snapped off by the sheer force which slammed into it, and the bracer spun with his momentum before launching the drill head towards the Atlesian.

Zaffre lunged to the side, just narrowly dodging the broken piece of equipment which spun past his head and embedded itself in the icy cave wall behind him. He turned back only to find his attacker had rapidly closed distance. He dodged swings as best as he could, moving back a step with each near miss. In the midst of this flurry he felt the edge of a foot wrap around his heel and pull, spinning him around out of nowhere, almost immediately making him face the drill head lodged in the cave wall behind him. An arm wrapped around one of his own arms and a fist grabbed hold of his hair before he was forced towards the metal piece. With his free arm he halted his own approach by stabbing his wrist blade into the wall just past the broken drill head, the Uruk pushed his head closer and closer to the sharp piece of equipment, grunting as the Atlesian forced himself back as far as he could with only one arm

Taking a gamble, Zaffre whipped his blade out of the ice quickly and swung it back against the Uruk's head before he could get impaled on the drill head. The creature stumbled back a bit with a small grunt, his aura going to work as the Specialist stumbled away from the wall and tried to catch his breath. What he hadn't anticipated was his opponent's almost immediate recovery from the blow, before he could even stand up straight the Bracer was already charging him again. The Specialist tried his hardest to deflect the next barrage of jabs, but after receiving two more blows devoted the last of his Aura on his semblance. The spear thrower had dodged out of the way, the Brute could smash his way through, but maybe if he could use it on the Bracer it'd help give him the escape option he desperately needed.

Clapping his hands together as his opponent readied another jab, a spear of ice formed at his knuckles and grew quickly. Recognizing the attack, the Bracer dropped down onto his back as the Spear grew a yard nearly instantaneously, puncturing the air. However, the Uruk immediately placed both hands on the ground behind his head, and launched himself back up before the Atlesian could finish his attack. The Uruk's two feet impacted with Zaffre's chest, forcing him off his feet and onto the metal drill in the wall, which pierced through his weakened aura and right through his torso as the weight of his body further impaled him on the protruding piece of metal.

Immediately Zaffre could taste blood, which he coughed out as he grabbed hold of the drill head. The Bracer stood tall as his opponent struggled, turning back to address his accomplices.

"I get the tark's gear now, right boss?" He asked with a chuckle, Zaffre couldn't see who responded, as his vision was already dimming.

"Wouldn't have gotten loot rights if Master didn't practically hand you this victory." the Brute grumbled with a huff, crossing his arms angrily as the Bracer approached the mortally wounded Atlesian

"Aw, what would you even do with things like these?" his victorious opponent asked the brute as he grabbed hold of one of Zaffre's arms "With how meaty you are, you'd end up breaking these things sooner than using 'em."

Before the banter could continue, the Bracer was distracted by the Specialist coughing up more blood.

"Hey there boy, thanks for the blades." the Uruk gave another smug grin as he tapped his claws against Zaffre's wrist blade "I'll put 'em to good use. Heh, I'll use 'em better than how you was using 'em I promise you that."

* * *

Tarz looked over the sketch provided to him, happily humming a little jig as he traced curves and runes. Also in the room with him were Hork's two highest ranked Captains, Dharg the Hell-Hawk and Pigug the Executioner. Dharg insisted on keeping his Hell-Hawk helmet on, despite everyone else removing their helmets for this little meeting. Even Pigug, who was dressed in his heavy dark armor, was willing to take off the thick helmet which sported the crude image of a skull on its faceplate.

Along with them were two of Tugog's greatest Captains, Dushrat the Advisor and Ishga Blood-Storm. Dushrat's Red armor was similar to Ishga's but Ishga always seemed to wear that white and red war paint on his exposed skin no matter the occasion. The Spear wielder was a Shaman technically, indicated by the helmet made from a skull which he carried under one arm. But that wasn't all, the two Tugog Loyalists had brought-

"Blood-Axe says this drawing's too small to bring us home," Skak Blood Axe said as he pated the weapon he was named after "maybe make a bigger one?"

"It's just a drawing, imbecile." Ishga clicked his thin tongue in irritation "Remain quiet, lest you embarrass the master further."

"Why did you even bring him?!" Dharg barked, running his glare across the Red captains.

"Skak is my responsibility, little bird," Blood-Storm replied with narrowed eyes "he will be by my side till further notice."

"What did you just call me?!"

"Uruks, Uruks please!"

The assembly of Captains all turned towards Tarz, who lowered his hands with another sick grin and aimed his disgusting face towards the symbol on the table they surrounded "As tantalizing as watching all of you argue is. I believe this is what we gathered for?"

"I agree with the Surgeon." Pigug spoke up in gruff tones before glancing towards the Reds as well "You say you've figured out its mechanics?"

Dushrat placed a hand to his mouth and coughed a bit "Well, our resident spiritual expert has discovered the meaning behind the Spell's symbols."

"Correct," Ishga interjected "after interrogating several of the hybrid Pinkskins I've discovered that many of these symbols are actually a form of old dialect used by one of the specific kingdoms of this land."

"Which is..?" Dharg pressed on

"Mistrallian," Blood-Storm concluded "ancient by today's standards. Though how they affected the spell exactly we can only assume."

"Perhaps a series of coordinates?" Pigug offered

"That's what I thought as well." Dushrat confirmed before gesturing towards the picture, tracing one claw along the symbols "Perhaps the spell in and of itself was supposed to be a portal all along, this Mistrallian dialect merely determined where it would take us."

Murmurs went around the table at the possibility, only to be interrupted by Skak "Blood-Axe wonders why we're here then?" he spoke up "You know, instead of at that Mistral place?"

"I said no interrupt-!"

Ishga was cut off by Dushrat "No, he makes a fair point." the Advisor muttered before lowering his hands and turning to the rest of the assembly "If the dialect used was Mistrallian in nature then why were we summoned to a location on the whole other side of the map?"

"We already determined they were coordinates, why wouldn't they just send us anywhere?" Dharg pointed out

"I understand that, but think about it." the Advisor pressed on before holding up a finger "A language used by those in ancient times, primarily from a continent part-way across the world, brings us here? I can't be the only one seeing an issue here."

"It's true, but-"

"All that matters is how quickly we can reverse it." came a new, thunderous voice

The assembled Uruks all turned quickly to see the massive form of Hork entering the room. Almost immediately Hork's loyal underlings kneeled in their master's presence, with Dushrat and Ishga giving small little bows. Skak looked confused, distracted by his weapon, while the Surgeon cracked another ghastly smile at the Warchief's presence.

"Where's Dreamer?" Ishga asked , leaning forward to glare at the Warchief.

Hork raised an eyebrow at Tugog's Uruks for a moment and replying "Writing down more of those accursed dreams of his, obviously." before pushing Tarz out of the way and taking his place, glaring down at the offending symbols before him "I care not for the meaning behind this ritual. I need to know _how_ we return to Mordor as quickly as possible."

Dharg nodded to his superior "I say we find a link between this Mistrallian language and our own. We learn how to replicate the spell using our own coordinates instead, if it was a portal all along then changing where it takes us should be easy."

"Even if what you propose _could_ work," Dushrat piped up before looking at Hork "in order to properly redo the spell exactly as it was done at the Black Gate we'd require an equivalent amount of resources, and I'm fairly certain half those ingredients don't even exist in this realm!"

"We have Pinkskins and symbols," Ishga interjected "it may not be exact but perhaps we find substitutes for missing ingredients?"

"You don't know that will work!" Dushrat stated.

"But we should try." Ishga insisted "Return home or not, I still wish to perform several tests regarding these portals. Working with the Surgeon, I've found that we may be able to recreate the portal on a much smaller scale."

"Correct!" piped up Tarz as he gave a nearly orgasmic sigh "Imagine it! Able to quickly travel to wherever we wish in the blink of an eye!"

" _If_ it works!" Dushrat reminded them.

"We see your point Blood-Storm." Pigug spoke, growling at the Red-armored Uruks "But do not forget the final objective here, our Master wishes to return to his charge, it would be wise of you not to get in the way of that goal by chasing false hopes."

"Agreed," Dushrat stated "so Ishga and Tarz will continue studying the portal for the time being. Does that conclude talk of the Spell for now?"

The Uruks seemed to murmur agreements, some more grudging than others. Hork muttered his acceptance of their plan before Ishga brought something else to mind "But what about the unaligned Captains? With how far they could've traveled at this point there's no stopping the Kingdoms from learning of our existence, no matter how many they go through one of those stupid globs is going to rat us out eventually."

"Leave them be," Hork stated, as he turned to look at a crudely drawn map of Remnant hung on a nearby wall "hopefully Bubol's schemes will keep them focused on those traitors for the time being."

"But when they come for us, sir?" Dharg asked

"Then we defend this castle till the portal is reopened." Hork insisted

"Considering how long it may take to recreate it," Dushrat offered "I don't see that as being easy in any form."

"I held the Black Gate," The Warchief said firmly as he turned to face the plump advisor "strengthened its walls and kept it as a beacon of the Dark Lord's power. I've done so with dozens of towers, keeps, and strongholds of similar nature for the vast majority of my life. Defense is my specialty, and the specialty of each and every runt under my command, if this world's pathetic Pinkskins think that witchcraft and trinkets will help them topple a structure defended by me and mine, then they better be ready to taste nothing but death, defeat and disappointment."

Without giving the Tugog loyalists time to respond, Hork turned and left the room with Dharg and Pigug following closely behind. Tugog's captains looked at one another as silence reigned for a moment.

"Confident at least," Dushrat muttered "but we cannot place all our hopes on confidence."

"Agreed," Ishga said "we need to move somewhere the unaligned don't know of. Settle there and try recreating the spell without the threat of Tarks responding."

"Hork's followers may see it as an insult to their capability." Tarz added with a sly smirk on his "Maybe they'd cut us up just for suggesting somethin' like that."

"More likely than I'd hope." Ishga conceded "But we should at least have a plan of escape ready if the Warchief's confidence ever wavers enough."

"I suppose I can work on that while you and the Surgeon work on the spell." Dushrat offered, somewhat unsatisfied with his role "But make no mistake, we will be discussing the spell's origin again soon."

"Oh don't worry about it," Tarz waved it off as he approached Ishga and turned to face the Advisor "you can help us with the portal once the escape plan is ready and roaring. Even you can see which is more important for the time being."

Dushrat nodded, albeit with a glare before leaving the room as well. Ishga finally released a sigh as he moved to the other side of the table and returned his gaze to the symbol below.

"Okay," Tarz said as he looked over the symbol and smirked at his study partner "first step in figuring this little ritual out. We're going to need to learn how to read ancient Mistrallian."

Ishga groaned as the sheer weight of their task sank in.

* * *

 **In celebration of RWBY Vol. 4, here it is.**

 **These beginning chapters always seem to require tons of backtracking, half of this chapter alone was cut out and replaced due to some inconsistencies I felt needed to be expanded upon similar to how the creation of the first chapter was** **. It wasn't small cuts either, so much of it was supposed to be centered on in this chapter that I had to change its title because they were no longer immediately relevant here. Those cuts will probably be in the next chapter somewhere, but for now voila.**

 **I'm actually surprised I managed to get this out in less than a month, considering how much trouble the first chapter gave me. I can only hope that as I go on things will get easier and easier once a rhythm of sorts is established. Until then I'm always looking at viewer reception, what I can improve upon, things like that. So any reviews or comments are welcome.**


	3. Chapter 3: The All-Eater

**Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of The Rings, the Middle-Earth universe, Shadow of Mordor or RWBY.**

 **This work will contain moments of intense violence, dark and dirty humor, and canonical divergences.**

* * *

 **The All-Eater**

 **Vacuo-Desert Tower**

In a higher level of the tower which jutted from the sandy cliff, Dushrat the Advisor walked briskly down a hall with a slightly larger figure following behind. The Red-Armored Uruk made sure to remove his feathered helmet and tuck it under his arm as he approached the door, gesturing for his companion to stay until he was called in. His companion grew a miffed look, but folded his arms and leaned against the wall complacently as the Advisor prepared himself whilst turning back to the door. Pushing it open, he was greeted with the sight of a larger Uruk pinning a human under an armored boot. A berserker, if the dual weapons strapped to his back were any indication, as bald as most of that particular style of Uruk-Hai fighter were. The weapons were large hammers, which were nearly caked in several layers of dried blood from humans, Uruks and several other creatures by the looks of it. The Larger Uruk turned his square-like head to look at Dushrat, who merely gave a restrained nod as he looked for-

"Ah, so it seems the Warchief's Errand boy has come to grovel at the feet of a true strategist." an Uruk lounging in a tattered stone chair said with a sideways glance, he was dressed in Red-armor identical to Dushrat's with the same type of helmet resting in his lap.

"Skog," Dushrat said with a sigh as he glanced between him and the Berserker "can I not step foot within your vicinity without being mocked?"

"Perhaps, but what would be the fun of a peaceful greeting?" the Seated Uruk asked before giving a small grin, gesturing towards a nearby seat "I take it you coming here means the Warchief wants something of me? What, Dreamer doesn't like my new _training_ regime?"

Dushrat declined the seat, instead walking past the Berserker to stand a few feet away from Skog "I'm here to request you do something other than come up with ridiculous excuses for fooling around with slaves."

"Oh but this is _official_ business." Skog gestured towards the pinned Human "I walked past some of the tower reinforcements and this little runt's quartermaster lashed it too hard in my direction, got a nasty bit of blood on my shiny gauntlets. I figured if he's got enough blood to go around spilling on innocent bystanders, might as well put that extra red to good use and paint me a room."

"And that seems like a better use of your time than accompanying us to one of the meetings?" Dushrat implored, already knowing the answer he'd receive.

As he expected, the other Red-Armored Uruk just tilted his head to the side "Hey, if Dreamer ever truly needs my help then he can send for me. Until then-" he turned to the berserker and snapped his leathery fingers "Muggrish, get back to it!"

The larger Uruk merely nodded before cracking his knuckles and leaning down to continue wailing upon the slave beneath him.

Dushrat took that as a chance to cautiously evaluate Skog. The armor labeled both of them as Warchief Tugog's confidants, the minds behind his forces, yet only Dushrat was given the title of advisor. This other Uruk was known instead as Skog the Corruptor, famous for saving the previous Warchief's life by convincing him to sacrifice nearly his entire army in order to kill their targets as well. Though the previous Warchief stood victorious in that battle, Skog's plan had left him more than open for Tugog to usurp him. The two had very different ways of going about the same thing, but Dushrat knew that he was smart enough to see the merit of his proposition.

"So" the Corruptor turned back to flash another grin "If Dreamer didn't send you down here, mind giving me just a bit of an explanation?"

Dushrat's gave another small sigh as he glanced at the helmet under his arm, "I... would like to propose something." he spoke, receiving only a gesture to continue "The portal that our Master created, I have inclination to believe that there may be some ties to it in another land. I however have been tasked with formulating a potential plan of escape if we ever face a siege that the Black Gate's forces cannot repel."

"Shouldn't go about speaking like that." Skog interrupted "Those Gate Guardians would take more than offense from comments such as those."

Dushrat nodded as his fellow confidant leaned back in his chair and placed a hand to his chin "So, you wish for me to go conduct this little study into the Dreamer Gate?"

The Advisor scoffed at the sound of that title "I had hoped the use of that term would stay with the drabble."

It was a label given to the red portal which circulated amongst the lower dregs of their army. Starting as a mockery towards his master formulated by Hork's forces, it had grown to be used by their own underlings as well.

"Aw, its just a little pet name," the Corruptor rolled his eyes "if I'd known it would hurt you so badly I don't think I'd have needed a blade in our last duel."

"Whatever," the Advisor grumbled, hoping to direct the conversation back to its intended course "I just need you and yours working on this, I do not feel at ease letting possible information slip by."

"I'm a tactician," Skog stated evenly "even if I had the time to go searching about for clues, interrogating softskins and such, I wouldn't know what to do with that information and neither would you."

Ignoring the underhanded insult, Dushrat stood straight "That's why I sought the services of another before coming here, I do believe he will be more than capable of putting together any information you find."

At that he turned toward the door and called for the one waiting outside, curiosity overtook both Skog and Muggrish as they watched an Uruk just a tad shorter than the berserker step in. Covered in red and white war paint whilst wearing a tunic and leather wrappings on his feet and hands, this Uruk also had a large pouch of parchments pages and scrolls hanging over his gut.

"Ah, Skog the Corruptor in the flesh!" the red and white Uruk said with a smile as he stepped forward "Torz the Literate One is what they call me, I was told to stay outside until the dear Advisor here saw fit to allow me to enter."

Torz gave only a small bow before glancing back at Muggrish "And I suppose this is the Rock-Crusher himself? I have to say even though you are nowhere near as large as the Black Gate's Keeper you still take up quite a bit of space! I can see why some refer to you as the Corruptor's bodyguard."

"You talk too much," Muggrish muttered as he pulled his bloodied fists away from the tark to look them over "I merely enjoy having a constant stream of tasks for which I can fulfill, tasks which the Warchief seems oddly hesitant to issue en masse."

"Oh now that is some impressive work ethic there." the Literate One said as he pulled a piece of parchment from his pouch "I had read in the logs from one of your fallen soldiers, now he claimed you had pulled a Caragor's skull out with your bare hands, do you mind if I ask you to confirm or deny this statement?"

"I do... I _really_ do."

Skog gave Dushrat an incredulous look "Is this some form of sick joke?"

The Advisor sighed before turning and narrowing his eyes "Look I know he's not like the crowd you seem to enjoy surrounding yourself with, but if you do this I can guarantee you that he'll figure out whatever information you come across."

The Corruptor grumbled, watching as the scholar pestered the Berserker with various questions one after the other "You forget something, Lapdog." he said as his eyes slid back over to Dushrat "Incentive. For what do I gain from putting time and effort into scouring for information and escorting your bookworm pest?"

His fellow Red-Armored Uruk smiled at that, fully prepared for when this question would come. Dushrat gave a small hum as he held his own helmet in both hands and looked it over "Well, I just thought you would be interested seeing as the 'Dreamer Gate', as you call it ,is capable of so much. Why, if this research were to uncover the secret to recreating the Gate then just think of the opportunity we'd lose."

Skog blinked several times as Dushrat turned his gaze towards him, the sound of Muggrish threatening the Literate One becoming the only vocalizations in the room at the moment. Soon the Corruptor smiled, "I didn't know the Lapdog had become so slippery a fox, we should have a cup of grog later on to celebrate eh?"

* * *

 **SDC Quarry Central Mine**

The sound of metallic feet sliding down the slope of a tunnel was followed by that of metal feet clanking together as they enter a larger cavern with their weapons drawn. The squad of Atlesian Knights scanned the area, finding the same thing as they had in the last several sections of this mine... nothing. A few overturned mine carts toppled and tossed about, the tracks battered in some places and actual flooring built into other parts of the mine. It went pretty deep, a testament to the abundance of resources lodged within its walls.

As the AKs searched and evaluated the immediate area, a small group of Atlesian soldiers followed behind them.

"I just don't get it," one of them spoke "we should've found something by now. How deep are we? Not a single hostage or Uruk in here."

"Probably means they held up even deeper." Another soldier, who was the youngest of them by far, said whilst kneeling down and poking around inside one of the carts.

"Yeah but," the first muttered "over a hundred of those things made it in here before they blew the entrance, they dragged in a hell of a lot of hostages and the equipment too. You'd think we'd start finding signs of _something_ this far in."

"You're just impatient," the soldier bringing up the rear accused "not a trait you'd want to have in a combat situation."

"Oh, so what?" the first responded without taking his eyes off the advancing AKs who scouted out the area ahead "You're telling me that you aren't curious as to why the bloodthirsty monsters haven't even planted traps this far into their hidey hole?"

"No," the rear guard insisted, stepping around a large pile of scattered rocks "I'm saying that focusing on the mission at hand should take priority over wild speculating. We already know we haven't found anything yet, reaffirming it does nothing but distract us."

The forward scouts paused at a gate built into the stone walls which seemed to be blocked with broken pieces of mining equipment wedged into its frame and a sabotaged lock. They reported this back to the Atlesians, who halted their own advance and pulled back while the androids focused on getting the door open. The four of them took a break from their hours of walking, the first leaning against a nearby cave wall.

"Do you suppose one of the other groups found anything yet?" the youngest spoke up.

"Probably not," the Rear Guard answered quickly "if they had we'd be notified, even if something were to happen to them."

"But see?" spoke the first as he gestured to his fellow soldiers "If they haven't encountered anything either then where did all the Orcs go?"

"They have to be hiding in here somewhere," the Rear Guard muttered "but hiding that much in a mine alone."

"Impossible, right?" the youth offered

"Not completely," first conceded, as he shifted from his position and began pacing "if they used the equipment to dig deeper they probably could be holed up there."

"But to do all that in the few weeks they had?" the Rear Guard brought up once more

"Well if you have any other suggestions then I'd gladly listen to them." First responded quickly, both of them beginning to quietly come up with causes for this lack of hostile sightings. They were quiet except for the sounds of the AKs working on the door, until the comm officer's helmet radio buzzed. Silent until then, he held out a hand to silence his comrades as he received the message. Muttering replies to the caller his face remained unreadable due to his helmet, but the others took immediate note of the shocked gape his mouth formed as he was relayed information from elsewhere.

"They... found some of the Uruks." he said slowly as he stood straight

"Really, where were they?" First asked

The Rear Guard was right behind him in that regard "Was there any damages taken, what's the size of resistance?"

The comm Officer placed a hand to his helmet for a moment and turned to look at them "They said that they found-"

They were interrupted by the heavy sound of metal colliding with the stone ground, and turned to see the AKs had finished removing the door. The small victory went unnoticed by the group...

...as the room beyond was littered with Uruk corpses.

* * *

 **Vale - Woodlands**

A large assembly of Uruks gathered around the clearing, most of them kneeling or sitting down while others stood around the edges. Most were clutching their weapons or their heads attempting to stifle bored yawns as they all listened to their Captain speak. Near the center of the assembly, sitting in front of a large tree was an exceedingly plump Uruk with a messy ponytail and green skin who was seated against a large tree with multiple chunks of its base having been torn out.

"And there it was, bubbling at the corner of 'is hut, a savory aroma wafting up from the pot as I approached." the Captain spoke in his somewhat nasally tone as he licked his fat green lips at the memory "I lifted it off of its cooking pit and grabbed one of the poor sod's cups before dippin' it in. Burned good on the way down but twas missin' something. No compliments to the meat in the broth, you follow me? And then I remembered the chair the stupid filth hit me with, remembered the taste of its wood. Figured 'Why not?' and walked back over to 'is corpse. Broke the worm's chair and dumped it in, I could honestly say the Dark Lord's meals themselves couldn't compare."

The Captain folded his thick arms over his chest and sighed dreamily as he remembered the chair broth he'd partaken in that day, completely ignorant of the bored groans which had steadily been rising in volume. He gave a hefty chuckle to himself as he reached behind his head and tore another chunk of raw bark off the tree, bringing it to his lips and stuffing it into is gob.

"Okay, now this next one's about this stone block that fell out of the Black Gate when they was reinforcing it this one time-" he started as he patted his stomach in a pleased manner.

One Uruk near the back dressed in the torn hood of a white fang member clawed at his miniscule hair as his captain leaped into the next of the plethora of tales about unorthodox meals he'd had. Mumbling his complaints and clicking his nails together as he listened with growing impatience, it did not go unnoticed by those seated near him.

"Oi, be miserable on your own time." A nearby warrior said with a grumble "With all the beast killin we's been doin, I'd think a true Uruk would be able to stand a bit of bad tale tellin'"

"I ain't no fake." the hooded Uruk seethed before patting the hilt of his sword "I's as true a warrior as they come, which is why I get a little heated when I sit around doing nothing for hours! I need to kill something soon else I might start swinging prematurely."

"Oh whine whine cry cry," the other warrior said condescendingly "that'll get you a battle real quick. If Captain Ashgarn wants ya ta listen to his droning then you'll shut up and listen."

The hooded Uruk narrowed his eyes and straightened up a bit as the other warrior smirked at his agitation "Oh, I suppose only a cowardly shrakh like ya-self would be perfectly fine lazing about tellin' boring stories."

"Keep talkin' like that an' I'll show ya just how cowardly I can be." his quarry said confidently

The bored Uruks around them almost unanimously turned their attention from their still prattling leader to the rising tension between the two Warriors, already chants for violence broke out through the crowd as the two began running hands along the hilts of their weapons. Eventually, their leader took note of his stolen audience and frowned at said realization before pushing himself up to his feet with a grumble.

"Admit it! Only reason your perfectly fine lyin about not killin tarks is because your scared of 'em!" the Hooded Uruk cackled as the audience followed suit.

His opponent glanced about, annoyed at the lack of support from his battle brothers before grunting out "Scared of a Pinkskin?" he said before growing another smirk "That tark clothing must be making you as dumb as one of 'em if you be lettin' thoughts like that go travelling through ya head!"

"Boys!" Ashgarn interrupted as he pushed an archer out of the way on his approach "I am disappointed in the lack of appreciation for the culinary arts I'm seein' here. You lot do know that separated from your kin, surviving out 'ere in the wilds, some of these meals very well could save your sorry lives."

The two warriors kept throwing threatening glances at each other as the crowd reluctantly quieted down for their plump leader, who wiped a non-existant tear from his green cheek in false sadness "But the young will be young I suppose, no appreciation for the finer things I can tell. So just tell me who started this little spat?

The noise from the crowd ceased at that and the hooded Uruk immediately shoved his quarry in front of their leader.

"Gah! Stupid glob!" the shoved Uruk whined as he spun to face his heavily clothed competitor, poking a thumb to his chest as he exclaimed "It wasn't me cryin' and moanin over something so pathetic as tellin-"

He stopped once his leader placed a hand on his shoulder and the warrior turned to look at him. His gluttonous Captain gave him a small smile before his jaw unhinged itself and shot forward. It was a sight to behold for sure, for all the Uruks in attendance, watching a mouth stretch like that. Teeth cleaved through the warrior's aura almost instantly on their way together, and when the Captain's teeth collided he pulled away leaving a nearly headless Uruk corpse to fall to the ground. Their Captain stepped back a moment and placed a hand to his mouth as he chewed quite noisily, keeping himself from spilling any of his impromptu meal.

Letting out a sigh of pleasure, the Plump Uruk sauntered back over to his previous seat while raising a finger in the air "Now this reminds me of another dish I had to make while trackin' some hobbit filth."

The crowd was sufficiently satisfied with that small bit of spontaneous cannibalism, silently turning to listen to more of the Captain's next story. The Hooded Uruk heaved a sigh of relief, thankful for his own quick thinking. He sat down once more before being immediately nudged by a nearby berserker.

"Nice one out there, Uthug" the larger Uruk whispered, not willing to incur their Captain's wrath once more.

"This is damned ridiculous." Uthug muttered as he glared at their leader, tugging at the sleeves of his pilfered hood with his nails out of anticipation "His stomach's out of control, Ashgarn was a hungry bastard back in Mordor but ever since that diseased rodent taught him that trick he's just been eating everything."

"You're right." the Berserker conceded with a sigh "But you got to admit, that trick was kind of terrifyin' last time he tried it."

"Couldn't even catch the tarks in it though." the Hooded Uruk replied with a groan as he placed his palm into his hand "I swear its like that diseased shrakh taught him a shoddy technique on purpose."

"No I didn't."

"How can you be..." he paused, realizing the berserker had not responded to his previous statement. Turning, the warrior came face to face with a grotesque monstrosity. Bubol flashed a sharp-toothed grin as the two Uruks immediately scrambled away from him. The Archer stood at full height and spread his arms wide as the rest of the assembly took note of him.

"Ashy, good to see you and the boys so close to claiming my little pets!" Bubol cooed as he waltzed through the crowd towards their Captain, who got back to his feet and tilted his head as he started sniffing the air.

"Likewise," Ashgarn said as he tried pinpointing the scent "thought you wanted us to handle this on our own? What's this surprise appearance all about?"

"Aw, I didn't want to miss out on some down time with my most tantalizing acquaintance ever." the diseased archer said as he walked around Ashgarn and tossed a sore covered arm around the larger Captain's shoulder "I'd be all by my lonesome while's you and your plump self go round up my missing toys, so how's that little task been goin' anyway sweetness?"

Though his followers grimaced at the sight of the growth covered Uruk getting close to their leader, Ashgarn seemed ignorant to the immense pus-filled lumps pressed up against him. In fact, Ashgarn actually seemed humored by Bubol's blatant fetishizing of his weight.

"Well, we have reason to believe the hybrid filth has taken residence in a nearby village." the gluttonous Uruk stated, gesturing in the direction of the village as he spoke "We've sent several hunters ahead to confirm or deny these sayings. Once they send word back we either assault the village or try finding them again, I'm pretty sure they're hiding there, I just don't want to waste time raiding a town the targets ain't around."

"Oh Ashy!" Bubol chittered in between cackles as he practically attached himself to the Eater's arm "So thoughtful indeed, wonder if that brain of yours is anywhere near as deliciously big as this glorious... round... _gut_ you have!"

The Hooded warrior covered his mouth to hold back the urge to retch at the implication, and from the looks of his fellow battle brothers the feeling was quite mutual. There was just something about watching a disgusting lunatic get as comfy as possible with the one they served that got stomachs turning in all the worst ways.

"Yeah yeah," Ashgarn said with a wave of his hand before pulling away from Bubol's overly clingy grasp and stepping close to the semi-headless corpse of the Uruk he'd munched on earlier "so how'd things go with Pug?"

The sickly Uruk pouted at the lack of physical contact before waving a hand dismissively "Wasn't there, one of his followers had to take the delivery off my claws."

"Wasn' there?" Ashgarn asked as he pulled one of the body's arms off with his bare hands, turning back to the diseased Uruk he bit off one of the fingers before gesturing towards him with the limb "I thought he was still settling in his den, he's gone already?

"Mhm," The Diseased Archer nodded whilst placing one claw to his own hip, tracing the holes Ashgarn had torn off the nearby tree with his other hand "took his Mongers out hunting I heard, guess it was just wishful thinking expectin' him to stick around to keep me company."

Uthug and the Berserker shared a look, mutual unease marking their faces at the idea of that particular Uruk wandering around 'hunting'.

"I see you'd procured quite the snack there, my sweet." Bubol commented whilst point a sharp nail towards the corpse at Ashgarn's feet

"Hm?" the Glutton looked down for a moment before shrugging, swallowing his current mouthful before replying "Oh, he just caused a tad bit of an interruption during one of my stories, if you couldn't tell I was quite miffed at the gall shown."

"Hm?" Bubol hummed in an exceedingly pleased tone as he placed a finger to his sickly lips and grinned "Did you have to make an example of him perhaps, hurt him in all the _right_ ways sweetness?"

Ashgarn shrugged "Pretty much just gave him a chewing."

Bubol gave a low grumble at that particular wording "Sounds enticing."

"It really isn't, fulfilling maybe but not really enticing." the Glutton turned back to the corpse and tapped a foot against it as he took another bite out of the limb.

"Speaking of enticing, I'd like a word in private." Bubol said as he raised a hand and curled one of his bony fingers slowly "Mind following for a second, my sweet?"

Ashgarn shrugged, turning away from the corpse and tossing the severed arm back onto it "Very well old friend, feel free to take the lead."

"Glorious!" the festering Uruk cackled before raising his left arm, the one with the arm mounted crossbow, and fired the grappling hook directly into the treetops. A second later the archer was immediately yanked upwards. Ashgarn blinked a bit before groaning and walking to the spot Bubol was previously standing in before yelling up "You know I'm not one for climbing, it might take me a while to-!"

Ashgarn was silenced by the Grappling hook which launched downward into his mouth midsentence, the metal claw grabbed hold of his thick tongue immediately. The fat captain only had seconds to realize what was happening before he was yanked through the treetops at intense speed. The unrelenting pull of Bubol's gadget jerked the eater far quicker than what one would expect for one as heavy as him, he screamed the entire way. Ashgarn smashed through several branches on his way up, overwhelming force cracking the thick wood upon impact as he continued ascending.

Eventually the top of the tree Bubol was in came into sight, including the underside of the branch the archer himself was perched upon. The glutton braced for impact, only for the pull to lessen to nothing as he approached. Now directly under the branch, he saw Bubol peak over the side with his usual grin widening at the sight of Ashgarn's suspended form.

"Oh, the sight of you strung up gets me riled in all of the good ways, sweetness." Bubol said whilst running his inky tongue along his small but sharp teeth.

Ashgarn rolled his eyes before reaching up and grabbing hold of the branch, once his grip was secured the grappling hook released his tongue and returned to Bubol's bow. As the plumper captain pulled himself up a bit, the archer nimbly leaped to another branch. Bubol crouched a bit with a smile once Ashgarn was properly clinging to the branch, the larger Uruk experimentally licking the branch he was hanging on and considering the taste.

"Now that I have you all to myself," Bubol said before pointing in the distance "take a gander."

Ashgarn followed the smaller Uruk's finger, finding nothing but trees and occasional mountaintop in the distance "I fail to see what you find so intriguing there."

"The City of Vale! Aptly named indeed." Bubol laughed "That tark city ain't too far from here, I can see it easily."

The All-Eater followed Bubol's gaze again, despite Bubol's claims Ashgarn could only see the distant lands laid out before them. Probably a difference in eyesight, even a proud Uruk like himself could admit that there was no way his sight could compare to that of a bow master like Bubol.

"So fun this realm is," Bubol said whilst supposedly looking over Vale City's distant form "I can only imagine how much fun it'd be when charging the streets of a kingdom such as that. Blasting apart tarks big and small, left and right, playing around and such. You and me, sweetness, we'll do it someday... get all the other blokes together and bring a little more Mordor to this realm."

Bubol paused a bit, looking over the weapon on his arm. It unfolded into its bow form and back several times whilst he admired it "Such entertainment wouldn't be possible back in Mordor. This little treat should've blown me arm off dozens of times over, but this realm was kind enough to share its bounty with us. That Aura stuff has made this experience so much more... magical for me."

At the mention of Aura, Ashgarn grumbled a little. The archer picked up on it, turning to face the glutton with a questioning smirk, prompting him to explain.

"That technique ya showed me," the Eater mumbled "its pretty taxing on my jaw I'll tell you. Feels like a duo of Caragors are pulling on my lips, stretching em out as they do. But that ain't even the most, uh... concerning point."

"Go on, my sweet, anything you say is delightful either way!"

"Its the whole... _Devouring_ thing," Ashgarn reached an arm down to pat his gut "every time I do it... no matter how much I eat at the time... I feel even more hungry afterwards."

Bubol tilted his head to the side for a moment, seeing the obvious distress crossing the face of his little Ashy. With a smirk he stood up tall on the branch, drawing the Eater's attention "The natives call these things semblances, odd choice of words but I think I can get used to a label such as that." he said whilst gesturing towards his fellow Captain "Anyway, most of 'em claim these semblance thingies are unique to each and every being who can use 'em. Meaning mine is far different from yours, and that none could ever recreate it. Maybe get something slightly similar, but yours is specifically yours. Take pride in what you could do better than anyone else, being an All-Eater ain't nothing to shake a leg at."

"Hm, even so, what about the-"

"No no my sweet, let Bubby finish." Bubol interrupted with a smirk before continuing "This semblance thing is just like any other ability, sweetness. If you keep doing it, it'll get easier over time. Ever since I learned about this stuff I been using it non-stop, allowed me to kill things I always had to backstab beforehand, helped me survived things that would kill Uruk three times my size, and I've only gotten better in the time we been spendin' out here. I feel great dumplin', better than I've felt in decades! So let me pose a little query to you. Despite the issue ya body has with these new bonuses, can you really say it don't feel good?"

Ashgarn narrowed his eyes, "And by feel good you mean-?"

"Isn't it pleasing gobblin' up any shrakh planning on givin' you a hassle?!" Bubol reiterated excitedly

"...very."

"I do believe my case has been rested." the diseased Uruk folded his arms across his pustule covered chest, just as voices called down from below. Ashgarn couldn't see properly from his position, but Bubol glanced down for only a moment before looking back up with a smile.

"It would seem one of your little hunters just got back, Ashy." he said with a grin "Should we go see if there's gonna be a nice raid today?"

The glutton nodded, prompting Bubol to clap enthusiastically before leaping from the branch. The larger Captain looked down at the sheer distance he was from the ground, concern only briefly filling his mind before he paused to think. Eventually, he loosened his grasp and leaped down as well.

Below, Bubol leaped down from branch to branch and then tree to tree before landing right back in the middle of the war band once more. They immediately gave a small but noticeable amount of distance to him whilst he stretched. Before he could call for the hunter currently speaking to the only berserker Ashgarn seemed to have in his Warband, the sound of snapping wood drew his attention back up as Ashgarn smashed through the treetops and into the ground. He was still for a moment, before slowly pushing himself up from the ground.

"See what I mean?" Bubol asked as he watched Ashgarn get back to his feet "Now what Uruk do you know who'd be able to survive a fall like that without the Auras and such?"

"My brothers perhaps." Ashgarn mentioned while rubbing the back of his neck "Can we just take a couple of steps away from the camp next time you want a heart-to heart?"

"Excuse me Captain," a scrawny hunter called from the side, drawing the attention of both the Diseased and the All-Eater "hate to interrupt but we spotted the hybrid filth in the village. If we wanna box 'em in before they make a run for it, we should get goin' as soon as possible."

Ashgarn sighed, picking up a tree branch he'd broken off during his violent descent and taking a bite from it "Very well, come on boys! We got ourselves an old-fashioned raid on our hands here, get moving!"

Spurred by the confirmation of soon-to be violence, the Glutton's soldiers immediately cheered and began moving en masse in the direction of the village. As he watched, Ashgarn felt someone slap him on the shoulder before Bubol walked ahead with a sly grin.

"Oh I expect a good show from you, Ashy," Bubol chittered as he sauntered along with the rest of Ashgarn's Uruks "been too long since I was there for a nice little raiding."

The Glutton shrugged as he began walking with them "Then I suppose we'll have to try not to disappoint you then, eh?"

* * *

 **Near the Village of Yires**

The Beowolf leaped over toppled trees and through shrubbery, snarls emanating from its bony maw as it tracked its prey: A single, dark Faunus who leaped from branch to branch in the treetops above. Its red eyes locked onto her form as the creature maneuvered through the various plants in its way. Spotting a sloped rock ahead, the Beowolf growled as it sped up. The form had just landed on another branch as the Beowolf jumped onto the rock and ran along it before leaping at her. She took note of the approaching growl and darted from the branch as the Beowolf's claws severed it from the rest of the tree.

She landed on her feet as the Beowolf impacted with the ground behind her, scrambling to its claws and locking eyes with her again before she took off once more. Irritated at the chase this particular prey was putting on, the Beowolf roared as it darted after her. She leaped through some bushes, and once it followed her out it found they were now in a grassy plain that ran alongside a trail. The Grimm could remember this trail instantly, it had attacked travelers here with its pack in the past. Before it could think too heavily on their location, it spotted its prey apparently making a break for the trail. Seeing that she was slowing down, the Grimm licked at its sharp teeth before redoubling in its pursuit. The Faunus paused and turned towards the Beowolf as it rapidly closed distance, her form shimmering suspiciously as she appeared to go still.

Movement from the corner of its vision registered to the Grimm, but the Faunus was nearly within its grasp. It lunged forward, swinging its claws towards the frozen Faunus only for her body to dissipate as they connected. The Grimm didn't have much time to question the sudden lack of dead Faunus in its grasp, because once her form disappeared the bright human behind it was revealed. Still mid-lunge, the Beowolf's momentum carried it directly into this new human girl's fist. A blast sounded out before the now dead Grimm tumbled to the ground.

"All right guys!" a young voice called out from the nearby tree line "Great teamwork there!"

The girl glanced to the side, spotting another young girl in heavily red attire standing up from one of the bushes, and waved at her "Thanks sis, Blake did most of the work though."

"Seriously?" another female voice called out as its white-themed owner stood up next to the girl in red "Two hours spent finding a Beowolf around here and that was the oh so impressive technique you've been bragging about?"

"Oh come on Weiss," the girl in red nudged her teammate "I think they looked pretty cool!"

Weiss shifted away from her a bit as she folded her arms over her chest a bit "Look, I'm more than happy you decided to add another maneuver to our arsenal Yang, but when you mentioned it I had pictured it to be... well... something else."

"What are you saying?" Yang narrowed her eyes suspiciously

"Well, I just think having Blake go leaping and jumping about teasing Grimm into a single punch may be just a bit impractical." Weiss restrained herself from sounding as annoyed as she really was.

"Impractical?"

"I'm just saying that it only works if your opponent isn't aware of: A. Blake's semblance B. Your position C. any of the warnings they'd most certainly receive from even a single comrade positioned anywhere else."

"Pfft, come on Princess, you're thinking too deeply into it." Yang placed her hands on her hips "It's just supposed to be a cool move done by cool kids for cool results, right Ruby?"

Her younger sister in red stepped out of the bushes with their Faunus teammate, nodding her head as she admitted "It was pretty cool to watch, Weiss."

"Exactly." Yang clapped before gesturing to the dissipating Beowolf "Doesn't have to revolutionize anything, just look epic in the heat of battle."

Yang placed a hand on Weiss's shoulder before gesturing around them "Imagine being out on the battlefield, cutting through entire packs of Grimm one at a time, turning your royal head and seeing us perform the legendary Team RWBY exclusive attack... Fetch."

"We never agreed on that name."

"Fate agreed on it Blake...fate." Yang said whilst wiping an imaginary tear from her eyes.

"Ugh Ruby," Weiss turned her gaze towards the Red-head "please tell your sister the scenario would have to be specific to the nth degree in order to make that attack useful."

"Sorry Weiss," Ruby said solemnly as she clutched a fist to her heart "she had me at Team RWBY exclusive."

"Alright!" Yang said as she walked over and clapped Ruby on the shoulder

"Hm, guess our Leader's will was overcome." Blake commented as she stood next to Weiss "What exactly did you expect the maneuver to be anyway?"

"I don't know," Weiss admitted "I guess I kind of expected it to be something more suitable for human opponents, for the tournament."

"We could probably still use it on people, if that's what your thinking about."

"Not too many threats in the tournament who'd fall for something like that." Weiss turned towards her Faunus teammate

"You'd be surprised what people can fall for." Yang pointed out before sticking her thumb towards Ruby "When she was seven I told her that dust rounds were actually made out of-"

Ruby gasped, immediately clamping a hand to her sister's mouth "Yang, come on! Just mentioning that makes my teeth hurt. Can we just get back to walking?"

She glanced to both Weiss and Blake, who gave each other looks before following the sisters to the trail. As soon as they began travelling along it, Yang leaned back towards Weiss.

"Hey cheer up princess," she said "so you don't think our revolutionary new tactic is A grade material. Doesn't have to bring the mood down, we didn't come here for moodiness."

"I am not down."

"You do sound pretty down." Ruby commented from the front

"Quiet you." Weiss huffed before glancing off to the side "How far is it to Yires Village anyway?"

"Eh, can't be more than ten minutes." the brawler stated as she gazed up at the sky

"And you're positive we didn't need a map?"

"Pfft," the blonde waved it off before nodding towards Ruby "Rubes and me have been to this place plenty of times, Weiss, its literally just a straight shot down this path."

"Yeah!" Ruby added, though Weiss still seemed a bit skeptical

"I've been there before," Blake spoke up "its pretty much exactly how they say it."

"Very well," Weiss conceded before smirking "then I suppose you'll have to prepare to lose that little wager, hm?"

Ruby and Yang turned back simultaneously with glints of challenge behind their eyes "Just you wait, Weiss." the leader spoke up "the second you taste Mr. Malt's masterful Marble cake, you'll be a changed girl."

"And when it can't even compare to the fine desserts I've already had," Weiss pointed out "then you two will most certainly be eating those words."

"I don't know, Weiss." Blake muttered, giving the heiress a side glance as they walked "They seem pretty sure about this."

"They were pretty sure we'd have to deal with a lot more Beowolves on the way as well," Weiss said with a smirk "see how that turned out?"

"Nah we weren't pretty sure of that." Ruby insisted as she waved it off "I _just_ said that the last time Yang and I were at Yires there was a pack of Beowolves wandering in the nearby woodlands that everyone talked about."

"Didn't actually seem 'em," Yang chipped in as she sighed " And we even went out looking for them. So in the end we were able to kick back and relax, I'm telling you they have a sauna that could make you look years younger, its pretty much heaven."

"Oh, are you _pretty sure_ about that as well?" Weiss asked as the team crested a small hill the path traveled along.

"Well, actually..." Yang's response died in her throat as she spotted something in the distance that the others paused at as well.

Smoke, smoke trails were rising up in the distance.

Weiss blinked "Tell me that's not-"

"Yep," Yang answered

"And it couldn't be coming from-"

"Mhm," confirmed Ruby before looking at her teammates and gesturing forwards "come on Team!"

In unison the girls raced to get to Yires, hopeful that they wouldn't be too late to help those who resided there.

* * *

 **Yires Village**

"Why only one?" Bubol asked as he stood tall upon the tiled rooftop, eyeing the wounded man who was desperately struggling to keep on his feet "I thought you warrior types traveled in packs of four?"

The human didn't respond, only gripped the musket in his hands tightly while trying to catch his breath.

"So is that like... only for the academy folk?" Bubol placed a claw to his chin as he gestured with his wrist-mounted crossbow "Was expecting the rest of your posse to charge me at any second!"

"A-are you going to keep talking," the young man paused to take a breath before raising his musket "or are you gonna fight?"

Bubol gave a small hum at that, "Well gee, didn't know you wanted me so badly, you delicious little thing!" he laughed before charging towards him.

The raid was under way, Uruks dragging people from their homes towards the large building in the center which seemed to serve as a meeting hall. Some of the villagers tried fighting back, but the ones who had any combat knowledge were either already defeated or being overwhelmed. Uruk Archers had scaled on top of buildings and were shooting at any humans or Faunus they saw, calling out potential escapees to their comrades on the ground. Inside a mason worker's home a shield-barer was standing by as two Warriors took turns ramming the locked door behind which they knew a family was hiding. A berserker was dragging two resistant Faunus brothers towards the meeting hall whilst they clawed and beat at his arms to no avail.

And in a bakery, a baker was fending off a hunter whilst Ashgarn perused the selection. Using nothing but a baking pan as a shield, the chunky man deflected jabs of the spear in a panic while trying to find some way around the violent creature. Ashgarn was behind the Counter, looking over the cakes on display while the Hunter tried to force the pan out of the way. Finding the small little see-through door to the display case, Ashgarn licked his lips as he opened it and reached for a thick slice of some cake he'd never had before. Stepping away for a moment, he took a bite only to immediately make a curious face as he looked at the slice in his hand.

"Tastes nice," he commented as the Baker threw the Hunter over the counter and made a break for the door "could do better if it had a hint of Human thumb."

The Hunter recovered quickly, launching a spear towards the fleeing baker who turned just in time to catch the projectile to the shoulder. It bounced off his admittedly flimsy looking aura, but the force tossed him to the ground anyway. As the Hunter ran to pin him, Ashgarn removed more pastries from the display case.

"Hm, this one could do with more cat-lung." the Captain muttered before looking over to the two grappling on the ground "Oi, any of your neighbors got any cats?"

"Captain, please!" the hunter yelled as he wrapped his arms around the Human's face, holding on as he flailed about wildly.

"Oh quit whining, Nakra." the Gluttonous Uruk mumbled as he walked over "this pig doesn't look like he could walk up a flight of stairs much less fight of a trained and battle-hardened member of the Dark Lord's army."

"He's three times my size!"

"So's a Caragath, I saw you take down one o' them before." Ashgarn said before stuffing another pastry into his mouth

"Sir, there's a big difference between a sly, blood-thirsty monster and a three hundred pound panicked animal!"

The Captain narrowed his eyes, then swallowed the rest of the pastry "You tryin' to be funny?"

"No sir I'm-!" Nakra couldn't finish, as the baker managed to wedge a thick leg between them and shove the scrawny hunter off him. Immediately getting to his feet, the Baker turned to run for the door when a thick object collided with the side of his skull and sent him tumbling back to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

The Hunter groaned as he got to his feet, smirking at the sight of the downed human "Haha!" he yelled before turning to his Captain, who was wielding a massive bone as a weapon "Nice swing boss."

"Runs in the family." Ashgarn commented offhandedly as he hefted the treats he carried in one arm and walked out of the bakery "Be sure to toss 'em in with the others."

As he walked off, the Hunter processed what he said before glancing down at the large form of the Baker.

Ashgarn walked towards the meeting hall, in front the majority of the raiding party were milling about.

"What are you lot doing?" their Captain asked as he made his way over

"We got the dirty hybrids and had some of the boys take them back to camp whilst we rounded up the other tarks." a grey-skinned berserker muttered while nodding towards the meeting hall "I personally smashed up quite a bit of Pinkskin toys, got half of these buildings burning down so you know."

Murmurs of agreement came from the crowd of Uruks, a Shield Barer raised his spear shouting "Pretty sure I got at least six tarks on this beast in one."

"Impressive, Impressive." An archer commented as he climbed down from the roof of a wrecked residence "But I got a running little hybrid right through the eye, so who's in need of a fully intact skeleton?!"

"How about you lot get the rest of the prisoners ready for transport," Ashgarn suggested "I adore the idea of sticking around to watch this place burn to a crisp, but we _are_ on a bit of a timescale."

The Grey Skinned berserker stepped forward "I shall oversee the preparations, Captain." he said dutifully as he stood straight, trying to look respectful even though he had an easy foot of height on his captain "Under my guidance, I believe we can have them ready to go in minutes."

"Very well, Tuka," the All-Eater said with a knowing look "feel free to snap the necks of anyone givin' you a hassle."

Tuka nodded and led several Uruks into the church, after which the body of a human landed amongst them. Confusion turned to recognition immediately once Bubol jumped down next to the corpse "A wonderful toss ya gave me, my sweet!" the Diseased Lunatic told the body in a chipper tone as he skipped past it towards Ashgarn

"I take it you had fun with our wanna-be warrior over here?" Ashgarn walked over to the young man's form and patted at his pockets as he spoke.

"His weapon had all the _length_ an Uruk like me could ask for," Bubol said in mock sadness "unfortunately it seems he had not a clue as to what to do with it."

"I can see that," Ashgarn muttered as he hefted the modified musket in question before tossing it to the crowd "how much food these globs had?"

"Should last till we get back to the camp." Uthug pointed out from nearby as he pulled his tattered hood back. As he did that, Bubol slid over to the plump captain once more.

"Grand bit o' destruction today," the Bow Master commented as he wrapped an arm around Ashgarn's back and gestured around them with his free hand "haven't seen a raid that's gone this smoothly in a while."

"Agreed, usually they're expecting us." Ashgarn sighed "These guys probably woulda lasted longer if more of 'em had joined the battle, would've given me more of a range of flavors as well."

"Aw, sad there's not too much Softskin variety for ya?" Bubol guessed, pointing a warty claw towards the small pile of treats Ashgarn held in his arms "Seems like ya found something tasty to enjoy anyway!"

"They're good," the All-Eater admitted "I'll probably have to get the recipes from the baker before we hand 'em over to Pug."

The idea of being able to make these delicious pastries whenever he pleased brought a smile to Ashgarn's face, a smile which Bubol mimicked to a much less degree "Oh, you gonna fatten ya'self up even more for me?" the Archer asked giddily "That might even be too much for _me_ to handle!"

Groans of disgust rose from the crowd, but Ashgarn chose to ignore the comment in favor of eating another pastry. As he tasted the sweet flavors once more, Ashgarn barely noticed Bubol suddenly stepping away and glancing about. Quirking an eyebrow, the larger Captain was about to question the Diseased Uruk on what seemed to be troubling him when he heard the gunfire. Along with most of the gathered Uruks, Ashgarn turned towards the meeting hall where flashes of gunfire could be seen through the building's small windows.

"Someone's muckin' with our catch!" Ashgarn shouted before pausing to lick some left over pastry from his fingertips, pointing towards the door "Make 'em suffer for-"

He didn't finish his command, as a fist connected with his face sending him tumbling into a nearby seller's stall. His aura had soaked up the brunt of it, but tumbling through the air did rattle his noggin' a bit, luckily he managed to keep hold of the stolen goods tucked away in his arm. Shaking his head to cure the daze he was in, Ashgarn glanced up to see a blonde human pulling back her fist after knocking him on his feet.

"That... was for Mr. Malts." she said as she assumed a battle stance, pausing to mention "And because it felt awesome, but mostly for Mr. Malts."

 _Another defender?_ Ashgarn thought, rolling his eyes as he realized she'd placed herself in the middle of the crowd of Uruks.

"Ya seem to have outnumbered yourself, girl." the All-Eater said as he rose to his feet and plucked another pastry from the pile "I usually have a soft spot for those bloodthirsty enough to ignore common sense, but not when they interrupt my meal. Eh, no matter. You can repay me by being my main course, I'll turn you into a dish worth talkin' about."

"Hm, never thought I'd here that as a threat and not a come on." the human mentioned before shrugging, "First time for everything I guess."

Ashgarn called out to his fellow Uruk raiders, who surged towards her just as one of the warrior's was blasted off his feet from a round coming from the side. It hadn't come from the blonde girl, Ashgarn realized, who had already begun blasting Uruk Warriors with those golden gauntlets on her fists. His suspicion was confirmed when another Uruk got blasted off his feet by another one, the warrior's Aura flashing as more of his brothers were fired upon by the unknown assailant.

From a nearby rooftop Ruby was biting her lip as she tried to poke holes in the crowd of otherworldly raiders. This wasn't how their trip was supposed to be, they were supposed to be relaxing together during a team trip. Laughing over a sweet treat, rubbing how inhumanly good they were in Weiss's face. Having some down time before they got back to training for the Tournament.

Normally raiders usually kept towards villages farther away from the City, unwilling to risk Huntsmen stumbling upon their heinous deeds. But one look at these guys proved they were nothing like the raiders they'd seen before. Orcs, that's what both Blake and Yang had called them, citing the monsters from fantasy stories. Ruby had to agree, though Weiss had insisted they call the bloodthirsty pillagers something other than a name from childhood fairy tales. She could offer nothing else that could fit as well, so she begrudgingly accepted their title for them.

They knew the Orcs were holding most of the villagers in the community center, smack dab in the middle of Yires. With little time to ponder the absurdity of taking on fantasy villains, Ruby had insisted they quickly devise a plan to get the innocents out of the city and question them later before this much negativity drew in Grimm. She considered the sparse number of the Grimm they'd encountered on the way, but she wasn't about to bank on that. The plan was simple, as the stealthiest of the four, Blake would infiltrate the center with Weiss ready to provide assistance if necessary. If things went up in smoke then Ruby and Yang were to intercept the main group of Orcs and keep them distracted.

They could probably handle this many raiders if they worked together, it was the hostages that threw a wrench in there. As soon as they were safe, they could defeat the rest of the Orcs and chase them out of Yires. But that was the problem, once they were safe Weiss was supposed to come out and help them deal with the crowd. She and Ruby were the best suited for large crowds like this, and Yang and Blake would be able to Defend the Community Center until the raiders were chased off. But neither of their teammates were leaving the building, leaving Ruby more nervous than she should be.

It didn't affect her aim too much though, she still managed to hit her targets, the Orcs were like thugs they'd dealt with before, only more resilient. Seriously, as if the shock that they all seemed to have Aura wasn't enough, they had much more of it than any average street thug. It was taking more than one or two shots from her precious Crescent Rose to incapacitate one. Firing another round, she noticed the apparent leader seeking out her location. Seems he figured out what was going on, but his continuous eating made him seem far less aware than it should. Not to mention the sight of him stuffing his fat mouth with Mr. Malts's prided baked goods made Ruby inch her scope towards him.

Before it was suddenly obstructed by sickly flesh, she leaned away from her scope quickly to spy the other Orc of note crouched on her pride and joy. His appearance had drawn looks of disgust from each of them when they'd initially spotted him, but seeing his diseased form on her baby instead filled Ruby with annoyance and anger as they locked eyes.

"Nice toy." he cooed before shooting a grapple hook which latched onto Ruby's corset, he rolled backwards off Crescent Rose pulling her up and over and flinging her off the building. She managed to orientate herself as the grapple hook detached and raced back to him as he righted himself and fired at her several more times. She immediately used her semblance, diving down out of the way of the bolts in a flurry of rose petals. But as she slowed down she turned only to find another bolt already closing in, raising Crescent Rose, she blocked the bolt only to be thrown off balance. Her landing was a bit more stumble heavy as a result, but she was now in the thick of things with her sister.

Bubol landed next to Ashgarn as Yang helped Ruby to her feet, "Looks like we gots ourselves some tasty young heroes here, eh?" the diseased Uruk turned towards the larger Captain, who stuffed another handful of pastries into his mouth before answering.

"As a culinary connoisseur," Ashgarn placed a hand to his chest "I'll be the judge of taste."

"You okay, sis?" Yang asked as she let Ruby go, the smaller girl brushing herself off before hefting crescent rose again.

"Yeah, he just snuck up on me." she admitted ashamedly

"Sisters?" Ashgarn picked up on that little tidbit, a smirk growing on his face as the remaining Uruks gathered around them again "Haven't made sibling dishes in a while, always go together better in a nice stew than while still alive."

Before they could answer, the pustule covered Uruk gave a high pitched laugh as his eyes traveled towards the red-head's scythe "You planning on cuttin' me with that delicious looking blade there?" he asked before giving a groan and wiping some saliva from his lips "Oh~ I can't wait!"

The All-Eater's jaw unhinged as he shoveled the rest of the sweets into his gob, audibly swallowing before hefting the massive bone up over his shoulder.

"I call the one with the big blade!" Bubol cheered before charging, bow raised.

Ruby spun Crescent Rose as the archer fired, deflecting bolt after bolt before angling the barrel in his direction and firing. The diseased lunatic slid underneath the discharge, skidding past Ruby who whipped her scythe back just in time to intercept a slash from Bubol's bow. She immediately followed with a cleave of her own which he slid out of the way of just before firing several more bolts. Ruby leaped out of the way of the blasts, noticing an incoming blade and leaning out of its way as another Uruk stabbed at her. Pulling the trigger, Ruby's scythe came swinging back with enough force to throw him away, but the tip of it lodged into the shield of another Uruk near him. The Shield-barer stabbed at her with his spear, prompting her to back out of the way before tearing her precious weapon out and spinning with it. The back of its blade smashed into the shield-barer's face and sent him stumbling just as Bubol leaped by firing off another bolt.

Yang seemed to be having a slightly easier time, dodging the heavy swings of Ashgarn's bone (A pun she would save for a much less crucial moment) she gave a quick jab to his gut before socking him in the jaw with her other fist. He stumbled back clutching his mouth, but before she could follow up two raiders jumped in front of him. The first one swung his club faster than she'd anticipated, prompting her to go from offense to defense as she raised both of her arms and felt the club bounce off Ember Celica. As he stumbled back she lurched forward and bashed him in the skull, aura flashing he slammed into the other Uruk's chest as Ashgarn shook off the throb in his jaw and caught sight of her bringing her elbow down on the second attacker.

As the two fell, Ashgarn frowned as she leaped towards him fist raised. Calming himself, the Captain took a breath before lunging forward as his jaw unhinged. Yang's attack was halted almost immediately as the Captain's teeth clamped down on her gauntlet, the sickening feeling of being caught in the Uruk's mouth causing her to wince as he unsuccessfully tried chewing through her weapon. Cocking her other gauntlet, Yang blasted him twice point-blank in the face before she suddenly felt herself being lifted off the ground. With a roar, Ashgarn swung her before opening his mouth, sending her flying into one of the meeting hall's walls.

"That's the way you do it, Ashy!" Bubol called as he leaped out of Crescent Rose's range once more, several more Uruks charging Ruby as the Diseased placed a claw to his lips and glanced between the two sisters.

The blonde pushed herself away from the wall and angrily shook the disgusting saliva from her hand just before glancing up to see a maw charging her, she jumped to the side just barely before Ashgarn's unnaturally large jaw tore a chunk of the wall out. He didn't waste time in turning towards her, swallowing, and charging bone raised.

Yang stepped back out of the way of the swing and went in for a follow-up attack when her hand was suddenly yanked back mid-swing. She turned quickly to spy a metal claw clinging to her gauntlet, its cord trailing back to Bubol, who smiled at her.

"Big mistake!" She said before gripping onto the cord with her other hand and pulling Bubol off of his feet. Swinging him through the air, she pulled the cord in the stumbling Ashgarn's direction when suddenly it went taut. Turning she saw Bubol's bow retracting its cord, essentially pulling him through the air towards her. Yang had just enough time to step to the side as the blades of Bubol's bow slid right past her. He tumbled to a crouch before leaping at her again, the cord attached to her wrist dragging her into the next slash before she could recover. Bubol landed right passed her again as her Aura dulled the attack. Anticipating the same move, the brawler swung her fist behind her and let loose a shotgun round in his direction before he could pull himself to her again.

The diseased Uruk's eyes flashed a slight green as he swung his wrist bow up once more and let loose a bolt which connected with the shotgun round mid air, exploding between them. The Grapple claw suddenly released Yang's gauntlet as it zipped back to its wielder, prompting her to prepare a volley of shotgun blasts when she heard the footstep behind her. She spun just in time to raise both arms as Ashgarn's bone club smashed into them with more force than she'd expected, the swing forced both her arms to the side as Ashgarn reached for her with his free hand.

His sudden attempt to grab her was thwarted by a sniper round impacting with his chest and tossing him to the side once more, Yang spun to see Ruby give her a thumbs up before turning into a mass of roses and zooming out of the way of more of Bubol's bolts.

Taking a breath, Yang zeroed in on the wart covered Archer and prepared to fire upon him while he was distracted when suddenly the Meeting Hall's doors were thrown open.

All the combatants paused as a Grey Berserker tumbled out and onto the ground, behind him two figures emerged from inside. Weiss and Blake, looking far more weathered than anticipated, stepped out and readied their weapons as Tuka struggled to his feet.

"Sorry we took so long," Blake muttered as she raised Gambol Shroud and nodded towards Tuka "he was-"

"Annoyingly persistent." Weiss finished as she let the barrel of Myrtenaster spin.

"We've been outmaneuvered!" the Berserker shouted as he got to his feet with labored breaths "Flee now and live to fight again!"

With that he bolted, ignoring his fellow comrades and heading for the distance. Several Uruks fled the meeting hall as well as some outside, but for the most part the majority just tried to decide which pair of human girls they should be focusing their attack power on.

"Mmm" Bubol groaned in delight as he glanced to the rest of the Uruks "Ya see that boys? More girls have come to beat us, isn't that fun!?"

"Quit standing around and fight!" Ashgarn called out as he struggled to his feet.

Bubol shrugged and brought his crossbow up towards the monochrome duo, steadying it with his other arm before firing. The battle resumed once more, Ashgarn taking the brunt of the damage as the smaller Captain continued switching targets and scampering around the battlegrounds. With Team RWBY's combined abilities, beating down the persistent Uruk soldiers became easier, with more and more of the raiders fleeing the battlefield until just over a dozen were left fighting beside their captains.

A glyph propelled Ashgarn through a stall, the All-Eater groaning before glancing up towards the fight and angrily standing up. He grabbed a piece of the wooden stall and ate it as he stretch and prepared to jump back in. Bubol leaned out of the way of a shotgun blast before backpedalling out of the way of Crescent Rose's next slash, backing up with a small hum of amusement as he came to a stop beside Ashgarn.

"Enough playtime Ashy, Devour them whole like the tasty little morsels they are!" Bubol enticed as he patted the exhausted Uruk on the back. Ashgarn gave him a look, before turning back to the fight with a grumble. Seeing another Uruk turn and flee, he narrowed his eyes and nodded towards the archer.

"Clear a path boys!" Ashgarn shouted to his soldiers, who began backing away from the girls as their captain hooked the small end of his bone club into its strap on his belt.

Confused momentarily by the hasty backpedalling of their opponents, Team RWBY turned towards the voice which had caused it. Bubol gave them a smile from behind Ashgarn, who raised his arms out to his sides and gave a deep breath before opening his mouth.

Almost immediately they had to anchor themselves as an overwhelming suction grew in his throat and uprooted the nearby stall. Ruby practically buried half of Crescent rose into the ground and held tight, Weiss summoned a Glyph beneath her as Blake darted behind a nearby building and Yang dug her fists into the ground. The Stall's planks were pulled close to the tornado of suction before being ripped apart by the sheer force and disappearing into Ashgarn's mouth.

"What is that?!" Weiss called out as the suction only grew.

"Must be his semblance! We need to stop it before it gets too strong." Ruby surmised, gritting her teeth as she clung to her weapon.

Weiss gave a frown of annoyance before attempting to summon a glyph she could use for range,

The Uruk soldiers distanced themselves greatly from the cyclone, with Bubol standing behind him and clapping over the show.

"See!?" he said as he practically jumped with enthusiasm "What Uruk could do this without Aura? This place is gonna be so much-"

He stopped his celebration when his well trained eyes spotted the dark figure leaping from a nearby building. He immediately jumped back as Blake landed where he previously was and immediately turned to fire at Ashgarn, only for a grapple claw to catch her hand and yank it to the side as she pulled the trigger. The round went wide from its mark, clipping the side of the meeting hall.

Blake was spun towards Bubol, who gipped the cord of his hook with a look of distaste "Going for an Uruk's rear while he's distracted? How dare you!" he said before chuckling "That's _my_ tactic."

He readied to fire another bolt, unprepared for when the cord of his hook went slack. Blake darted out of the Hook's grasp, a shadow-clone of herself falling apart as she sailed backwards into Ashgarn. In his weakened state, it was more than enough to knock him over. The vortex ceased almost immediately after his jaw snapped shut upon impact with the ground, the rest of Team RWBY got to their feet. Blake managed to get both hands on either side of her head and backflip off of Ashgarn before he could pull her off of him. As soon as she was on her feet she darted towards Ashgarn as he got up on one knee, but Bubol leaped over Ashgarn Wrist bow raised and let loose another bolt. Blake immediately darted away using a shadow clone, which was thrown to the ground by the bolt and dissipated as the rest of her Teammates charged them.

Bubol landed in a sprint, sliding out of the way of a jab from Myrtenaster and rolling under one of Yang's swings, he came up on one knee before Ruby and fired another bolt which she avoided via speeding to the side. Bubol leaped to his feet as the last few soldiers they had rejoined the battle, supporting Ashgarn who seemed to be running on fumes at that point.

Blake darted past a shield-barer's spear, the Uruk unable to follow her as he suddenly had to block a punch from Yang. Zeroing in on the current weak link of their enemy, Blake weaved her way through the raiders towards Ashgarn, whose vortex semblance presented the biggest threat if he was allowed to do so again. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted the diseased archer grappling to a nearby building to avoid the sniper rounds of Crescent Rose, clinging to a building and firing several bolts back before leaping from the building to avoid yet another round.

Ashgarn spotted her, frowning and sucking in a breath of air before rising and raising his bone club as she ducked under the swing of the last Uruk and charged him. His bone club came barreling towards her, smashing into a shadow clone as Blake reappeared behind him and slashed at his back. His aura still held, but she could see that it was growing dimmer with each strike, just a little more and he should be incapacitated. With that in mind Blake slipped under his next swing and slashed at him some more with both her weapon and its sheathe. He stumbled back towards the melee, glaring at her before letting his mouth stretch open once more. Sensing the imminent danger, Blake left a shadow clone in her wake as she darted forward, bringing the sheathe of her weapon into the bottom of Ashgarn's jaw just as the vortex started.

His mouth snapped shut, killing the vortex with it, and his Aura fizzled as the Captain suddenly stumbled back, bumping into one of his warriors as he fell to one knee.

"Pity," he muttered as he struggled to push himself back to his feet "I had so many meals I could've made you into."

Blake brought her blade to his face was about to order him to call off his followers when she heard Ruby yell "Blake look out!"

Turning, the only thing she saw was the sight of an unclenched hook and cord swinging towards her like a whip before it snapped her across the face and nearly blinded her with pain. She stepped back, only to fall into a tight grasp. She heard the diseased Archer shout "Do it Ashy, EAT!" and could feel warm breath on her neck before hearing the sound of metal on flesh.

Trying to work her eyes open despite the pain which flared across her face, she instantly saw Bubol, who seemed frozen in surprise if anything. Moving her arms she found the grasp on her shoulders lessening. Blinking through the pain, her gaze traveled up to a strange round object suspended in front of her face. As the pain lessened, the object became clearer. Within seconds she could easily identify it as an eye, stuck on the thin metal form of Myrtenaster which seemed slicked with black blood. Turning quickly, Blake saw the blade extend from Ashgarn's eye socket, the Captain's face going slack a bit as the blade retracted out of his head and the fat Uruk tumbled to the ground revealing Weiss behind him.

For a moment there was silence, then one of the remaining Uruks shouted "Ashgarn's down! I ain't gonna be next!"

The rest of the soldiers fled, leaving the Team of Huntresses-in-training to look at Bubol, who looked on in disbelief before pouting. He gave them a look which shifted to curiosity for a moment before whipping his wrist-bow up, but not at them. Before they could do anything he grappled to the roof of a nearby building.

"Fine," he said with a roll of his eyes as he raised his wrist bow and held it with his other hand "Go ahead and kill my plump little dumplin' like that. If I can't have him, then you can't have your village folk!"

Immediately he turned his weapon on the roof of the Meeting Hall and fired a red bolt which added the building to the list of burning structures in Yires. The four fired on Bubol, who leaped off the roof and disappeared behind it. With him currently out of sight Ruby immediately turned her attention towards the Meeting Hall "Come on, we need to help them out of there!"

Darting towards the building, she was soon followed by Yang and Blake. Weiss started forwards as well, but paused to glance back at Ashgarn's corpse uneasily. She took a look at her well-crafted weapon, eyes roaming over the blood that now stained it, before shaking off the unease and rushing to assist her teammates.

* * *

 **Somewhere in Vale - Grasslands**

Crushing another set of weeds under his boot, Zog continued his trek through the grassy plains. Shield strapped to one arm, spear gripped in hand, his other arm was being used to carry the occasionally moaning form of his prisoner. To his side were train tracks in the distance, but he mostly focused ahead of him, goal set easily before him. As long as he kept avoiding large groups of the Dark Beasts, kept the Tark on his shoulder from starving, and kept himself distracted from the fact that he was basically alone using only his memory to find his way back to the desert lands of Vacuo... he should be fine and dandy.

Problem was this was too boring, an Uruk often had his fellow warriors to banter with to keep the utter boredom of long travels such as this from getting to them. They got antsy when bored, unless they were accustomed to such a thing. But what type of Uruk could get accustomed to boredom was beyond him. He could only take in the sights for so long until the lack of battle was brought back to the forefront of his mind, which was dangerous for an Uruk all on his lonesome like this.

Speaking to the Tark was a no go as well, despite that aura thing keeping her wounds from being much of an issue she mainly just kept groaning and whining. It contributed to his already prevalent antsy mindset, being annoyed wouldn't be good for him either. In fact, he had to remind himself time and time again that keeping her alive meant having ready access to warm Pinkskin flesh if he found himself lost in the desert. He just wished that he could get some more entertainment from her, the risk of having her die and rot already negated the poking, prodding and beating he'd done with slaves in the past for entertainment. But maybe...

"How 'bout a song?" he suddenly spoke out loud as he stepped over a small creek, turning his head towards his groaning passenger "I always used to treat the boys to a song when we was traveling about and such, makes the time go by quicker. I got lots of 'em too."

"Ugh... guh!" were the only replies he got. Shrugging, the Uruk smiled "The first one's about a pal of my b-former boss! Well, uh- it'd probably be more fitting to say that he was a pal of that pal instead." he said before taking a breath and reciting:

 _A hungry fellow of large size was he,  
_ _often devouring all that he could see._

 _Sinking his teeth into man and Orc same,  
_ _cleaning out rations he'd take none the blame._

 _Spurned by brother and many other Orcs,  
_ _he'd ignore their words with swing of the fork._

 _Oh what pity the loyal had for him,  
_ _a slave to his stomach on just a whim._

 _So much so that the only friend he had,  
_ _was one who reveled in habits so bad._

 _Encouraged to love his gluttonous ways,  
_ _surely he'd fatten for all of his days._

* * *

 **This was not supposed to be this long, but that's how it turned out I guess. This chapter took me so long to piece together and review that I actually had to start work on the next chapter just for some alleviation, and it did help considerably. As a result, the next chapter should take far less time to finish, so at least there's that. So far feedback on this story's been pretty healthy, so I'm glad that it's interesting enough. I could only hope that writing this will get easier as I continue but I've already mentioned that enough in previous chapters.**

 **Ashgarn the All-Eater wasn't actually all that memorable as an opponent in my game. He was a glutton who'd fight with a giant bone as his weapon, almost always threw feasts just to keep- fattening himself. But it was the relationship he had with two other Uruks that gave him a place in this story for me, he added to their plots far more than he ever should've. And for that he earns his spot as a minor antagonist here simply for the lore he's helped me build.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoy, any and all criticisms positive or negative are welcomed in full so leave a review if you are so inclined to do.**

 **Next Chapter: The Friendly.**


	4. Chapter 4: The Friendly

**Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of The Rings, the Middle-Earth universe, Shadow of Mordor or RWBY.**

 **This work will contain moments of intense violence, dark and dirty humor, and canonical divergences.**

* * *

 **The Friendly**

Weiss glared at the body, trying not to seem as disturbed by it as she was. Having finished cleaning her weapon, she should be done looking at that disgusting thing. But yet her eyes kept getting drawn to it, it wasn't the same as killing Grimm... not by a long shot.

Around her the people of Yires were milling about their village, now that the fires had been dealt with they had all the time they needed to assess the scale of damage. Some homes had been completely reduced to rubble, but a sizeable number had survived thanks to the coordinated efforts of the villagers and the huntresses-in-training. Weiss tried to occupy her mind with something that would draw her attention away from the corpse, finding it much harder to avoid than any boring lecture or inane event.

Luckily, the sight of Blake hopping from a nearby roof to the ground provided just the thing to distract her.

"How does it look?" the heiress asked

"There aren't any Grimm in the immediate vicinity," the Faunus answered as she stood next to the white-haired girl "but if any farther than that sensed it then I can't speak for how it'll be in the next few hours or so."

"Then they should have enough time to evacuate if need be." Weiss said before nodding towards the community center, which had survived despite the blackened roof "Yang and Ruby are still trying to get answers, but from what I could hear earlier I don't think we'll be getting anything too useful."

Blake sighed at that, the Faunus watching as Weiss's eyes traveled back to the corpse of the Uruk Ashgarn. Watching for a moment, Blake nudged her before saying "Thanks for that by the way, I don't want to think about what would've happened if you hadn't jumped in when you did."

Weiss smiled at that, placing a hand to her chest "It was nothing, I should thank you for distracting that dual-axe wielding brute as much as you did. Suppose that makes us even, hm?"

Blake nodded "Want to go see if they could use some help in there."

With a smile, Weiss turned and led the way back to the community center. Inside were several cots set up for those who had been too injured to move, the village clinic had been partially destroyed making it unusable for more critically injured. Several villagers had been making supply runs to the clinic and back, but it seemed that for the moment there was no rush. Surprisingly, the raiders had been very careful to kill as few of the villagers as they could, mostly aiming to cripple or incapacitate them. The exceptions being those who tried fighting back, like the blacksmith's son who had died fighting one of the Raider's leaders.

On one of these cots sat a fat man in a baker's outfit who was busy talking to both Ruby and Yang. Being the most locally known and socially active villager right behind the village leader, Mr. Malts was the best alternative now that said leader was wounded. The sagely old man had been beaten unconscious pleading for the life of one of the village defenders. He was stable at least, lying several cots back with several worried villagers looking over him, but he wouldn't be waking up soon.

"-and then these smaller ones, um...Uruks with crossbows came in and hauled them off!" Mr. Malts said to the girls as he held an ice pack to a painful looking bruise on his face "But they were talking about it like they were taking them to someplace entirely different to where they planned to take us."

"And none of them mentioned where that may be?"

The baker shook his head "Sorry girls, I wish I could be of more use to you."

"Eh, its fine Malts." Yang said with a reassuring smile "From how it looks to me you've kept these guys together pretty well on your own!"

The baker tried to look enthusiastic at the compliment, but still looked down for a moment before spotting Blake and Weiss "Oh! Looks like your friends have returned!"

Ruby flashed the duo a smile as she turned to face them "How's it looking out there?"

"Grimm won't be a problem for a while," Blake admitted "but there's no telling how many could be on their way."

"You guys should probably start trying to evacuate this place," the Heiress spoke to the Baker, who grimaced at the thought "just in case."

"Won't be easy," Malts said as he glanced to the other villagers working around the community center "Yires folk aren't exactly the type to move easily, even after something like this."

"Just as a precaution, sir." Ruby pleaded "Please, you guys have to try at least."

The Baker looked down for a moment "I'll give it a shot, I'm positive they'll be stubborn but I'll give it my all girls."

They all gave him grateful looks before leaving the community center "In the meantime, we got bigger problems." Yang said as they stopped in front of the building, she reached back to nervously scratch the back of her head as she looked over her teammates "Those Uruk guys were apparently intent on capturing a very specific handful of Faunus that happened to wander into town soon beforehand."

"Yeah, they got ahold of them and moved them before we intervened." Ruby said with a determined look "If they were their true target then finding them should shed some light on why this happened, maybe we could learn about where those things came from... We have to go after them."

"What?!" Weiss blanched at the idea "Ruby, please..."

"She's right." the team Faunus spoke up "They have several hours on us, but we should be able to track them if we move quickly."

"Yeah, they left lots of footprints on their way out, we should move before they cover too much ground." Ruby looked at her Team, gauging their reactions. Yang seemed as pumped as usual, and Blake grew a determined look that nearly rivaled her own, but Weiss...

"Can we think for a second before rushing off into the woods hunting an unknown opponent who we still don't fully understand? We were shocked to find that they had aura, and even more surprised when that glutton showed off a semblance of all things. We don't have enough information on them. We can't just run into any other surprises they may have for us, we can't act on impulse!" the Heiress paused "I say we go back, travel until we get back into range of the CCT and tell the authorities. Have them send huntsmen on this mission after we give them information they can use to prepare with. We came here for a vacation, we're not fully prepared for this!"

"I understand you're just trying to be cautious, Weiss." Blake nodded before gesturing towards the woods "But all of that will take too long, we can catch up to them in a manner of hours at most if we move quickly, people's lives are on the line."

"I know that but-!" Weiss halted in the middle of her reply to stare wide-eyed at something beyond the team "Wait... where did it go?"

Confused, the rest of the Huntresses in training turned to follow the Heiress' gaze and found that Ashgarn's corpse was missing, a trail of thick footsteps leading away from where it once lay.

"W-what, who-!?"

"It just... ran right through..."

The girls turned to see a villager lying on a pile of slightly soot covered furniture, it seems she had been trying to move it out of the partially ruined building she once called home. She now lie upon a blackened couch, uncaring of how the dark filth got all over her already rugged looking form, staring at the bodiless puddle in open-mouthed shock.

"What happened to the body?" Weiss asked quickly as the woman put a hand on her head.

"It just leaped down right next to me..." she said, still obviously panicked by what had happened.

"What did?"

The villager looked up at the heiress and blinked a bit "One... one of those raiders you guys just scared off. It jumped down, ran straight for the dead fella' on the ground and hauled it over its shoulder before bolting."

"Well," Yang gave her teammates a glance before nodding to the footsteps "I figure whoever took the big guy would probably have an idea for where the captives are heading."

Weiss sighed "Fine, we catch that raider and find out where the hostages would be, then we can better decide upon the most reasonable option."

"I'll take it!" Ruby said before waving the other huntresses-in-training towards the trail "Come on team!"

* * *

They followed the trail into the woods, which became increasingly thicker the farther they went. Whoever had taken Ashgarn's body would have to be incredibly strong to carry such a large mass and still be able to keep ahead of them. The tracks were fairly easy to follow, as the body snatcher had ran through a section of forest laden with heavy fruit which had fallen to the ground. The fruits themselves were dark and stone-like, so much so that if placed next to a rock many would find themselves hard pressed to find a difference between the two. They couldn't be crushed by being stepped on, but they made it much easier to spot which path the perpetrator had taken. Though moving while avoiding stepping on the stone-like forms of the fruit was a bit of a hassle.

"Gah!" Ruby winced as she stubbed her toe on what felt like the fifth one since they'd entered that part of the forest "These things are terrible, what are they?"

"Herbology with Professor Peach approximately two and a half moths ago." Weiss didn't hesitate in responding "Honestly Ruby, there were about three questions based around Bura fruit in that week's test."

The name of the painfully hard fruit immediately tugged at memories "Oh, you mean the Boarbatusk Berries!"

"Just because your sister makes up a name for something doesn't mean you should internalize it over the correct label."

"Oh come on, Princess." Yang piped up as they paused in their running as the tracks seemingly disappeared, the girls began looking in different directions to see where the trail might pick up "With that name we internalized lots! Boarba Berries, hard as hell like the armored little dash hogs we all know and hate."

"Perhaps if you actually studied them instead of spreading that moniker about, you'd have had an easier time on that week's test."

"They're hard and taste terrible, what else was there to know?" Yang asked back as she glanced through some bushes for tracks that may have been obscured by the shrubbery.

"Oh, I don't know." Weiss said sarcastically as she looked pushed some low hanging branches out of the way to search "Perhaps how, historically, the Bura fruit's sturdy shell made them ideal for early settlers to use in basic explosives?"

Ruby paused at that, turning back to her partner "You don't think those Orc guys could figure that out, could they?"

"If they did then why didn't they use them during the raid?" the heiress questioned back "Though that does pose a problem for the-"

"Found them!"

The three turned to Blake, who had found the continuation of the trail on the other side of a log "He might be trying to obscure his tracks by running on things that'd be harder to find them on."

Soon they were back to following the footprints, giving Yang ample time to think on another subject. The body snatcher was one of the raiders, and was quite light on his feet too. Thinking back to those who participated in the assault on Yires, one particular face stood out amongst the rest.

"Hey Blake?" She said, turning to her dark-haired partner "Do you think it might be the guy with the axes, that you and Weiss fought?"

"The thought did cross my mind," Blake said as she glanced back to the blonde "but I believe if he was the one who took him then tracking him would be a much harder process."

"Why's that?" the Brawler asked

"The only reason that thick-headed brute was such a hassle was because neither of us had expected him to have a semblance like his." Weiss called back to her "Some form of sight-based teleportation, whenever we got through his guard he'd just blink to another part of the room and resume fighting. It made it hard to damage him properly until it became clear he was incredibly untrained at using it. After that I just used myself as bait so Blake could properly cut his aura away whenever he was distracted."

The Faunus nodded "If he was the one who took it then he'd probably be using that Semblance to evade us more effectively, skilled or not-...oh no."

She skidded to a halt at the very end of the tracks, which just suddenly stopped there in a patch of dirt and grass. Unlike before there wasn't any shrubbery or miscellaneous items to hide tracks on, they just ended right there in the dirt.

"Oh boy," Yang said before glancing up into the thick canopy of Bura trees "Maybe he climbed up the trees?"

" _With_ the body?" Weiss asked before glancing around trying to see if there was any indication of a directional change.

"Maybe it _was_ the axe guy," Ruby offered "and he just didn't start blinking until now."

"Then that would make tracking him the traditional way next to useless." The Heiress said while turning towards her younger partner, taking a moment to compose herself she turned to the other two, who looked just as confused by the sudden lack of tracks. "Look, if he really is the one who took the body... we simply won't be able to catch up with him."

"We still don't know that." Blake insisted

"I don't see any other reason for the sudden halt in footprints," Weiss replied before gesturing around them "unless you see anyplace for him to hide himself and a body without us noticing."

"Maybe he just stepped in his footprints backwards until he reached somewhere he could hide." Yang offered as her Younger sister paused to see something in the trees above.

"I didn't see a place big enough to conceal a fat corpse like that, did you?" Weiss complained with a hint of reluctance "Listen, I don't like the idea of leaving anyone with those things any more than you guys, but its not like another clue's just going to fall from the sky-!"

As if tempting fate, the words no sooner left the Heiress's mouth when the sounds of snapping wood and displaced leaves drew their attention to one of the larger trees. A large mass tumbled down through the canopy, shaking off Bura fruit and leaves before colliding with the ground. Almost immediately they could recognize it as an Uruk, from the orcish ears and thick looking skin, but as he gave a groan and rose to his feet two other distinct facts made themselves unbelievably clear.

One was that he was the most unbelievably massive humanoid figure any of them had seen, easily towering several feet over all of them while standing on his tree like limbs. Hearts went out to whoever had to weave the surprisingly light looking tunic which covered his torso, ending at some thick looking trousers which ended in minimalist foot-wrappings like some of the regular Uruks they'd seen during the raid.

Second thing they noticed was how he had the exact same face as Ashgarn, right down to the fat which constituted a chin. Though this Uruk's skin was a more beige-orangey color in comparison to Ashgarn's easy green and he was bald, everything else from the barely-there mound which acted as a nose to his beady eyes reminded them of the hungry devourer immediately. Of course, the main difference was the sheer contrast in size, but the nearly identical facial-structure spoke volumes.

He straightened a bit, massaging his neck with his right hand which had wrappings on it similar to those on his feet. His other wrapped hand was busy hefting a large sack on his back which seemed to be positively stuffed to the brim with Bura fruits. The handles of two weapons strapped to his back were visible, but unidentifiable from their position.

The Uruk finished massaging his neck and popped open an eye to see four weapons pointing towards him, their wielders prepared to unload the second he moved an inch. They stared at one another for a moment, the large Uruk quirking an eyebrow as he gave what seemed like a hesitant smile at the sight of them. However, he looked increasingly nervous as neither side moved, eyes glancing between them more frequently while the seconds ticked by.

"Psst," Ruby leaned towards her partner as they stared him down, eyes flicking towards the sack of fruit he carried "Didn't you say those things could be easily used for explosives?"

Weiss new where that train of thought was going, immediately cursing the possible jinxing she'd probably incurred "Yes Ruby, yes I did."

They went silent for some more time until Yang broke it "So, you gonna do some-"

He took off...

The girls each blinked, realizing the Uruk had darted off with speed more befitting a charging Alpha Beowolf than a beige monster the size of an Ursa.

"What the-!" Yang gasped "Where did he go!?"

"There!" Blake pointed out the Uruk's fleeing form in the distance.

"What... how did he-?!"

"Doesn't matter," Ruby interrupted before aiming Crescent Rose behind her "after him before he gets away with that stuff!"

Firing, their team leader soared after him while the rest went into pursuit as well. Catching up with him was not a challenge, despite the shocking speed which he demonstrated now as his thick legs somehow seemed to fly across the ground instead of the lumbering one would expect of someone his size.

Using her Semblance, Ruby managed to cut him off, appearing in a storm of rose petals as she swung her scythe and aimed it towards the Uruk. Finger on the trigger, she paused as the look on his face became clear. He was still smiling, but not in the way any of the raiders at Yires had been, not in any way someone under pursuit should be. It was possibly one of the warmest smiles she could think of, more befitting of someone in a cheesy commercial centered on an impossibly perfect lifestyle. On a face almost identical to the one which had nearly devoured her teammate, it was more than a little unsettling. He didn't even slow down, immediately changing directions and running into some nearby shrubbery as shotgun fire sounded out. Yang hopped onto an overturned log and fired more rounds from her gauntlets, hoping to slow down the ridiculously speedy wall of flesh.

Her blasts hit him of course, he was much too big of a target not to get hit even with his maneuverability. But he didn't even seem phased by the impact of rounds on his body, it didn't even seem like his aura was flashing up to defend him. The elder sibling felt her eye twitch as he continued running, grimacing in irritation before taking off after him. The forest became more densely packed as they chased after him, maneuvering around trees got harder as more bushes, large rock formations and thick vines got in their way. The Ashgarn look-alike simply charged through these obstacles with ease, rocks were crushed under his weight, bushes and vines were pulverized under his feet, rotting logs were left unrecognizable after he was done running through them.

As he ran, the Uruk's eyes widened as a wall of ice suddenly sprouted up before him. He made a sharp turn, skidding to a crawl before the ice wall and running to it just before Yang's fist nearly embedded itself in the impromptu obstacle.

"Weiss?!"

"What are you looking at me for? Be quicker next time!" the Heiress responded towards the now agitated brawler before running to catch up with their teammates who were also closing in. Yang groaned before picking up the pace as well, catching up just in time to see Ruby and Blake simultaneously leap from opposing trees towards the Uruk from alternate directions.

The giant gave a yelp of shock before launching his cargo into the air and bringing both his arms up over his face. Both Ruby and Blake's weapons connected, drawing blood as they slid by. Turning, they both paused to take in the sight of the Uruk looking up and opening his arms wide to catch the falling sack. The wounds on his arms seemed far too miniscule, as if he'd been cut with toy scissors instead of the well-maintained weapons of soon-to-be Huntresses.

"Are...you...kidding me!?" Yang shouted as she slid to a stop beside Blake and Ruby, pausing to catch her breath as she readied another barrage.

"Sorry!" the unexpected apology came from the Uruk as he reached up to catch the sack of Bura Fruits, jerking his other hand out to catch one which had fallen free "Sorry again lassies! Just taking my leave here! No troubles!"

He even had a similar nasally voice to Ashgarn's, but taking on more of an apologetic tone than they'd expect coming from someone with that appearance.

"Well then stop," Weiss ordered "drop the fruit and-!"

"Oh I knew it!" he seemed distraught, throwing his free hand to his face in distress "I'm givin' you lots of trouble and such! Don't mind me, lassies, I'll be going!"

He took off again.

"Wait-!" Weiss called before growling "Just shut up and listen!"

He was already too far away to hear her. Weiss threw her hands in the air angrily as the four continued their pursuit.

The Uruk seemed to turn towards an old stone bridge which was built over a small valley of trees below, the bridge was covered, looking more like a square tube which deposited weary travelers out on the other side. Weiss's eyes immediately lit up at the sight "Guys!" she called to her teammates "I've got an idea."

Running through the stone bridge, the Uruk glanced behind him to look for his pursuers. The sound of more ice drew his attention only to find the stone bridge before him was sealed off. An ice wall connected with the walls of the covered bridge, easily cutting him off from the other side.

"We've got you now, big guy!" He heard behind him as he turned to see the other path already obstructed by two of the huntresses.

Above Ruby clapped Weiss on the shoulder as her partner gave a sigh "Great job, now all we need to do is interrogate-"

The Bridge gave a mighty shake, prompting the Rose and the Heiress to ground themselves. Confused at first, hearing Yang's shout of "Come on!" led them to glance over the side of the stone bridge's roof. The bridge now had a massive hole in its side, and past it they could see the Uruk tumbling towards the valley below.

"He just ran right through." Blake told them as she and the truly peeved brawler glanced out of the hole towards their other teammates. Feeling Yang's rage, Weiss placed a hand to her face and took a deep, calming breath as her partner groaned.

"Come on, before he gets away." she said with much less enthusiasm this time.

Below the Uruk landed on his back, crushing another rock under his sheer weight as he protectively grasped the sack of Fruit. Groaning only a bit from what should be a lethal fall like that, he got back to his feet again and took off. Not soon after that, the sounds of approaching feet reached his pointy ears once more. He continued running, traveling alongside a small creek he occasionally splashed in as more rounds impacted against his back.

Eventually, the trees lessened as the Uruk slowed whilst nearing the creek's source. Ahead of him was a bed of rocks leading away from a large stone mountain. From the side of the mountain sprouted a waterfall which poured down into the bed of rocks. The Uruk found that the mountain's form cut off any escape routes, and he continued slowing down as the four behind him drew near.

"Okay okay!" the massive Uruk whined as he slid to a stop on the wet rocks at the base of the waterfall and turned to face them.

"Drop the disgusting fruit!" Weiss yelled as the four of them slowed just at the tree line and pointed their weapons at him in unison.

"Disgusting? Buddy I'm hurt!" he replied as he took one of the Bura fruit and held it up "These things be one of my new favorite treats."

Before their eyes he opened his mouth and bit through the fruit's insanely thick skin almost instantaneously, "Ya can have ya own opinion on it, but mind being a little less hurtful there friends?"

"We're not friends." Blake stated simply

"Pshaw!" he replied as he finished the rest of the rock-likee fruit, swallowing it as he jabbed at himself with his thumb "Everyone who Krimp meets is a friend by default, every Uruk, man, even you Fenuses."

"Faunus"

"Yeah!" Krimp cheered, pumping a fist in celebration "One of those! All friends!"

"I say we hit him until he stops shouting." Yang offered.

Weiss stepped forward and summoned a glyph behind her, face scrunched up in annoyance "I second the notion."

"Wait!" Ruby called to them "Maybe we can just ask this-"

"Oh!" Krimp said before she could finish, snapping his fingers and pointing towards them as his ever-present smile got wider "Ya just wanted a friendly tussle between pals? Well if you'd have said that before I went for a run then this could've all been avoided! I just thought you was scared of me like the other pinkskins I found, had to get away before my new friends were stricken by the same fear!"

The entire team stood dumbfounded, Blake sighed at this information while her Partner cracked her knuckles together.

"A...Are you serious?" Weiss asked in disbelief

"I'm always serious when it comes to my friends!" the Uruk insisted before devouring another Bura fruit and flashing that excessively warm smile towards them "Well then, if you want a go then let's have a go!"

"Wait!" the Team Leader called towards him "No, we can-"

Ruby's words fell on deaf ears as the large Uruk took a step forward from the watery rocks to the thick dirt next to them before charging towards them like a freight train. Team RWBY dispersed to the sides as Krimp barreled through their previous position, he slid to a stop and glanced around for a moment.

"New pals, where'd you run off to-UGH!" He stumbled forward a bit as a round impacted with his back and made him shift forward a bit, he grew a confused look and turned to spot Blake in a tree pointing Gambol Shroud at him.

"Ah," he spoke as his smile returned and he waggled a finger at her "you got around me didn't ya, you sneaky little munchkin!"

Blake didn't dare deign that statement with a response, instead aiming at him once more as he got into a another charging stance.

Rounds hailed on his thick skin as Krimp stumbled back a bit onto a glyph which activated almost immediately, the massive Uruk looked down at the spinning circles and managed to say "Pretty looking thingie ya got-" before he was blasted off his feet into the air. Nearby Weiss nodded towards Ruby, who looked reluctant for only a moment before taking aim with Crescent Rose.

"Yahoo!" Krimp cheered as he tumbled head over heels through the air, the sudden blasts of sniper rounds impacting with him did nothing to remove the smile from his face.

He rolled on the ground for a moment, not wasting any time in getting back on his feet as if nothing had happened "Wow, that was pretty impressive you guys!" he chuckled politely as he gestured towards them "That whole flingin' me through the air like a sack of logs thing was mighty fun!"

"Well then I hope this compares!" came a voice to his side, prompting him to turn in time to catch a flying left hook to the face. Yang didn't give him any time to stumble away like his smaller doppelganger, following in with several more jabs which were accentuated by blasts from Ember Celica. Her teammates looked on as Yang finished with a brutal looking uppercut which had Krimp staring straight up towards the sky.

"This doesn't make any sense," Weiss muttered annoyance as Blake jumped in to help her partner "he's not even using an aura and yet his skin's as tough as a Boarbatusk's."

Ruby met her partner's annoyed look with a bit of concern "Then I guess we'll just have to figure out where his underbelly is, right?" she said with a hopeful grin.

The Heiress gave her a look laced with inklings of doubt, before the two rushed into the melee once more.

* * *

 **Vacuo-The Desert Tower**

"Come on you shrakh!" the angry grunts of agitation could be heard from outside the large room, which had been stripped of its previous old furniture for these tests specifically "By the Dark Lord himself you will work!"

Ishga Blood-Storm stomped angrily around a ritualistic circle laid upon the floor, occasionally leaning down to check the runes on it intensely before cursing and moving to glance at some other minor detail or other. Sitting nearby Skak Blood-Axe looked over the weapon he was named after, listening in on a conversation no other would be part of. Leaning against one of the barren walls of the room, Tarz's disgusting lips stretched into a humored smile at the sight of the red-themed hunter's agitation.

"He annoyin' you?" Skak asked the weapon, tilting his head as he leaned the skull portion of the axe towards his ear "Yeah? Mhm. Don't really know how to tell him?"

Ishga's growl of restrained rage caused a throaty chuckle to rise up in the Surgeon's throat, his fat pig-head shifting between the two.

"Well why should I tell 'im?" Skak asked with narrowed eyes before pointing towards the skull "You got ta speak ya mind if ya want anyone to listen to ya."

"Skak!" the Blood-Storm shouted towards him

"What'cha want me to do?!" Blood-Axe shouted towards his smaller partner, jerking the weapon around "He's bad mouthin' ya! Want me ta let 'em do whatever he damn well pleases!?"

Ishga's claws clenched tightly whilst one of his eyes twitched in rage, the smaller Uruk's eyes darting over towards Tarz as he failed to restrain his latest chuckles "What's so funny?"

Tarz wiped a non-existent tear from his eye-lids as his hideous grin stretched even wider "Don't know, watching you flail like that reminded me of this one time I whipped a slave so hard he jerked about trying to keep his wounds from bleedin' so much... Pretty funny if I do say so myself."

"How about you act slightly more progressive and help me with this wretched thing!" Ishga gestured towards the non-functioning Dreamer Gate "The sooner we get this done the sooner I can take some of this anger out on an unfortunate tark."

"Blood-Axe says yelling at the ritual won't make it work." Skak called out to him

"Yes! I know that, Skak." Ishga bit down on his tongue to hold back his own rant

"Jut thought I should mention it."

"So...very helpful." Blood-Storm groaned

"Why is he even here?" Tarz questioned "Far as I know you and me are the only Urukss with actual grey matter in this room, so why bring your meaty ally over there?"

"He goes everywhere with me," Ishga responded before waving it off and approaching the ritual once more "Forget it, you wouldn't understand. Just help me with-"

"Blood-Axe just wanted to mention that we don't do things like piss together."

Tarz's eyebrow arose as he locked eyes with the Blood-Storm "Mighty specific detail to mention, eh? Somethin' you wanna get off your chest?"

"Okay, no." Ishga stood straight and reached for the spears strapped to his back "I'm taking out this anger now, draw your weapons!"

"Blood-Axe is already drawn."

"Damn it Skak, I meant-"

"He's right," Tarz interrupted with a shrug "you cannot unsheathe a drawn weapon, Ish my boy. I'd expected you to know something like that."

Ishga was just about to pull his spear free when a familiar voice came from the now open doorway.

"Take comfort, this endeavor will bear fruit."

Three heads turned to see none other than Tugog the Dreamer himself step into the room, the feathered cowl covering his upper arms swayed as he walked over to them.

"S-Sir!" the Blood-Storm immediately stood at attention "I had no idea you had arisen from your slumber."

"My rest has been most eventful." Tugog said, seeming much more enthusiastic than had in previous days "I have catalogued many happenings that are to come to pass, but know that one is our successful use of the Gates which many have named after me."

"Sir," Ishga leaned forward with hopeful eyes "are you sure?"

The Dreamer nodded "I have seen our mighty warriors pouring from these gates in places far apart, we are destined to learn of its secrets and even master it. The task of reaching that point may be daunting, but take comfort in knowing that as long as you continue striving for it, victory is guaranteed in this regard."

The hunter gave a sigh of relief "It is as though a weight has been lifted from my shoulders, my master. I'm quite thankful for your words."

"Oh please." the Blood-Storm's moment of peace was interrupted by a fit of laughter coming from the grotesque Surgeon as he pushed himself from the wall "That's nowhere near enough of a reason to get all calm and pleased and such."

"Quiet you troll-born filth," Ishga bit back "your remarks are as worthless as you are."

"Me and Blood-Axe are quite sure most remarks ain't worth much."

"Silence!" the Spear-thrower yelled at Blood-Axe before turning to narrow his eyes at Tarz "You will not speak ill of my master's, **your** Warchief's, abilities of clairvoyance. Why, I wouldn't be standing before you if it wasn't for the knowledge gleamed from his dreams. That knowledge may save your life as well someday, you'd do best to show respect."

"Hm," Tarz tilted his lumpy head, the filthy hair falling to the side "if I believed in every Uruk who went and saved my life somehow I'd probably be rotting in the middle of the sea."

"It's not our fault you keep terrible company." Ishga pointed out spitefully

"Please," Tugog held up a hand "there is no need for such vehement hostility. Save such emotion for a duel, or the battlefield, not when researching the future of our Army's power."

Tarz shrugged, going silent despite the condescending smirk he sent the Blood-Storm's way, before gesturing towards the ritual itself "Suppose we should get back to it then, eh?"

Ishga didn't cease his look of irritated suspicion, but gave a slight nod "Suppose we should."

He gave his master a bow, the Dreamer nodding in response as the hunter walked over to the circle with Tarz and the two began to look it over. Off to the side, Skak glanced at his Blood-Axe quick before piping up "You two ain't gonna be able to get anythin' done before he-"

"Skak, please." Ishga sighed without looking up from the ritual "I don't care how many Pinkskins I have to give you for a moment's respite, I shall gladly-"

The Blood-Storm paused in his plea, as the sudden sound of immense footsteps drew all four Uruks gazes towards the door. A moment later it was thrown open by an irate looking mountain of strength, Hork of the Black Gate stood in the doorway in all his dark glory. His eyes immediately settled on the incomplete Dreamer Gate, and the two Uruks standing near it. Squeezing through the doorway, the massive Uruk paid the other Warchief nary a smidge of acknowledgement as he spoke to Ishga and Tarz "Progress... now."

The two traded glances before Ishga opened his mouth "Hork, we haven't exactly had long to properly decipher-"

"I didn't ask for an excuse, worm." Hork muttered "I demanded a show of progress."

He groaned as his eyes traveled to the other Uruks "And yet here I stand before an audience of the weak seemingly no closer to our return than when I last left them to their devices!" Hork grumbled before turning on Tugog "What else could be expected from _your_ forces."

Though the Dreamer almost always conceded in the face of the Gate Guardian's fury, he had to keep some measure of dignity in front of his higher captains "Hork, listen to me, you must give them time."

"Time we do not have!" the larger Uruk barked "The longer we are apart from our positions the more likely that Gondor's disgusting menfolk are getting their filthy, grimy hands all over my charge!"

"Blood-Axe says the Dark Lord could probably replace our numbers quite easily." Skak piped up before Ishga could shush him.

"Silence that mongrel before I go over there and pull his jaw from his skull!" Hork growled

"You are letting the distance from the Black Gate negatively effect you." Tugog insisted

"Oh really?" Tarz said sarcastically "I don't think any of us could've noticed-Ow!"

Ishga silenced the Surgeon with a slap to the face as Dreamer continued speaking.

"Though his madness does bring a skeptical gaze you must admit that 'mongrel' you speak of is not incorrect. Your charge is not defenseless, I'm fairly certain that it will be ready and waiting for you upon our return."

" _Fairly certain_ does not win wars," Hork grumbled before turning and walking out of the room "and neither does laziness."

Though Tugog seemed content with letting the larger Warchief stalk off to try mellowing out elsewhere, Ishga certainly wasn't.

"Laziness my arse!" the hunter shouted as he ran out of the room after Hork.

Inside, Tarz rolled his eyes as the Hunter left "Oh yes, go pick a fight with the walking mountain of muscle and excessive rage." the Surgeon muttered passively as he turned back to the Dreamer Gate. Warchief Tugog himself seemed worried, probably concerned he'd be undermined completely if Hork ended up killing Ishga in a fit of rage.

"I-I should go make sure they don't get out of hand." he muttered before running after them.

"Oh yes," Tarz waved him off without looking up from the Ritual "tell me if they become all buddy buddy because you dreamed they became best pals or something ridiculous as such."

As the Warchief left, Skak leaned out of the doorway to watch the proceedings whilst still talking to his weapon.

Hork had only made it slightly down the hall from the room and was just walking past a window which had lost its glass long ago, pausing as he heard the voice of the Red-Themed hunter behind him "If you're so sure we've been doing nothing this entire time then tell me, oh great defender, what have you and yours been doing this entire time? Preparing for an attack that may or may not come?"

"Ha!" the massive Warchief laughed as he turned to look down upon Ishga "You think we've been doing nothing? Foolishness seems to run in your entire army it seems."

As he spoke, Tugog slid to a stop several feet behind Ishga, debating with himself whether or not getting between the two would be a good idea at this point

"Not only have we been readying ourselves and this tower for any assault this damned realm could throw at us, but just look!" He waved a massive arm towards the window.

Glancing outside would reveal a section of scaffolding running along the outside of the castle, upon which an Uruk Taskmaster was having several slaves add more and more reinforcement to the massive tower. Beyond that, the large shanty town built around the lowest base of the tower had grown substantially since its initial construction. Nowhere near as thick as they were capable of back in Mordor, but with more slaves and excessive force they could probably be close within a few months.

"Your point?" Ishga asked

"Gates, castles, towers, and keeps," Hork counted them off on one hand "all these things were built by me. Defended by me and my army, and maintained for centuries. The same shall ring true once we've secured the Black Gate and returned to this plane with our Dark Lord's full might supporting us. We've not only built more than other armies could in half our time, we've nearly completely wiped out the dark beasts who threaten our creations."

Standing taller at that fact, Hork's often ever-present frown actually shifted into something of a small, prideful smirk "Excluding the ancient beasts, I could walk in any direction for twenty miles and not see hide nor tail of one of them. And once we've organized a true hunting party of substantial size then the ancients too shall fall under the overwhelming strength of my army. So you tell me, whelp, tell me how these sturdy buildings could be anything other than proper work? Tell me how the annihilation of any who trespass on Uruk territory could be anything but arduous labor? Tell me why-!"

"Its all so rudimentary." a new deep voice stated.

All eyes were drawn to another Uruk, a hunter standing somewhat down the hall from them. Initially unrecognizable due to the drastic difference in apparel, which actually caused Hork to do a double take. This Uruk wore oddly-crafted trousers of a dark blue variety, held tight against his thin frame with a belt. He wore no armor, besides a shoulder plate on his left shoulder. Around his neck was a blue scarf which was partially covered by a single plate of armor which rested in the middle of his chest. There was a strap tied around both of his elbows, and his metal helmet had many beast tusks protruding from it. The front was open, revealing a bored pair of red eyes which ran over them condescendingly as the Uruk folded his arms.

He was a hunter no doubt, his thin frame coupled with the spears on his back gave that away immediately. But the spears looked as if they were completely made of metal, no wood at all. And instead of being in a sack it seems that they were each individually slid into straps on his back. Odd at first glance, the most noteworthy thing about this Uruk were his colors. Every bit of exposed skin was covered in a white war paint with blue stripes running across it.

"Maku," Ishga recognized him before the others "what in Sauron's name are you doing back here?"

The blue Uruk rolled his eyes before extending a hand towards the other Hunter "Come now, brother, all this time we've spent apart and that's all you have to say to me?"

"You abandoned your Master!" the Blood-Storm bit back "Ran off with the rest of those cowards led astray by Bubol, now you come expecting some form of acceptance?"

"Is that what you thought we did?" Maku narrowed his eyes, before tilting his head towards Tugog, who had been frozen in disbelief upon seeing him "My Warchief, I apologize on the Grand Shaman's behalf if our actions seemed to speak of disloyalty, I'll have you know he's very much still ready to serve."

"How did you get in my tower." Hork suddenly spoke up, to which Maku responded to with a questioning glance.

"This tower has Hundreds of sentries and Uruks at almost every corner," the Black Gate Defender snarled "how is it nobody told us of your arrival?"

"Why should I explain anything to anyone other than my Warchief, Toll boy?" Maku asked with another tilt of the head.

Hork's eyes hardened and he took a threatening step forward until Tugog pushed past him "Do not think much on what he says, Hork." the Dreamer spoke before leaning down towards Maku with genuine hope in his green eyes "Is what you say true Warmonger? Has the Grand Shaman truly not abandoned me?"

"Of course he did!" Ishga piped up "Where was he and his Uruks when Bubol tore our army apart?!"

"The Grand Shaman simply wished to capitalize on a new location early," the blue Uruk said simply "wished to give his master something of a forward stronghold before the Chief-less could claim too much wilderness."

Tugog actually wiped at his eyes "Always the long-term thinker as usual," he said with relief "I take it he kept the rest of his Storm together during the exodus then?"

The hunter nodded "Of course, his portion of the army has gotten stronger than it's ever been before." he said with a hint of pride "We've been resupplied and rearmed twice over the past few months alone, we've been unimaginably busy setting up in this new realm."

The relief flooded the Dreamer's features, of the many things to plague his mind since inadvertently dragging so many of his kind to a new world, the location of the most powerful Captain under his command had been the most daunting. It had eaten away at him, before the incident his advisors had stated dozens of times that the Grand Shaman and his Storm could easily overthrow him at any time, but they proved the most useful out of them all. If only they didn't do as they did in this new realm so much, disappearing and reappearing wherever it suits them, then he'd have them at the front of his forces as long as he could. Sadly, his fear of the Grand Shaman overthrowing him always made him susceptible to the Uruk's whims, he just couldn't risk angering him. So knowing that, despite having disappeared as they tend to do, he still had contact with the Storm of all things filled him with a sense of security he hadn't experienced since they'd first arrived.

"To leave your leader to flounder as he has," Hork muttered as he stood tall "how lacking in respect you blue children are."

"How lacking in cares for your opinion I am, Gate Keeper." Maku responded immediately before giving a small bow to Tugog and walking past him as Hork's growl rang through the hall "The Shaman has sent me to reestablish connections with you, Master. He feels confident in our abilities to serve now that we've properly established ourselves."

"If you think saying that will make up for abandoning us," Ishga started, stepping towards his brother with a scowl carved into his features "then you shall be most-!"

"Which is why he sent me to help you create your own portals." Maku finished

The words dies in Ishga's throat, Hork's restrained rage immediately shifted to wide-eyed disbelief that nearly matched Tugog's spark of happiness.

"Y-You what?" Ishga stammered out

"The portals, like the one which brought us to this land." the Blue Uruk stated simply "The Great Shaman has completed enough trials to deem our portals stable and fully functional, and sent me through one to bring our master his research in case you hadn't made much progress."

Hork pushed past Tugog and Ishga and stared down at Maku "So does that mean-?!"

"And before you ask, we have not successfully been able to create a portal home." the hunter strangled that hope immediately "Though we are on the right track it will take much longer to build a portal between realms than a portal to cover great distances."

Hork's look of agitation returned a bit, and the massive Uruk merely groaned before turning and walking off down the hall once more "Do what you must, Warmonger."

The Blue Uruk gave a smirk before looking towards Dreamer and Ishga "Well then, I suppose you should show me what you've completed so far, hm?"

Ishga gave a defeated sigh before gesturing towards the door behind Maku.

Maku nodded before turning back to the room they'd just exited, Skak peaked out the doorway and gave his own weapon a look before slipping back in.

"Over here? Wonderful." the Warmonger said before following Blood-Axe inside.

* * *

 **Vale-At the foot of the Waterfall**

Krimp raised his arms as Yang's blasts impacted with them, leaving no more than minor bruises as he lowered them and clapped his hands.

"Great job, Lass!" he cheered for her "With arms like that I think you'd be able to knock a Caragor's teeth in!"

Yang gave a sigh of exhaustion as she gritted her teeth at the annoyingly friendly Uruk, who gave her another warm smile before charging once again. Grunting, she lunged forward to meet him, ducking under a swing of his arm just to feel the other wrap around her wrist. Immediately Krimp swung her around into a tree which snapped in half upon impact.

"Oops," Krimp muttered to himself before cupping a hand around his mouth and calling out "Sorry about that! I didn't think the trees around here were so weak!"

Satisfied that he apologized for breaking the woodlands, the massive Uruk turned around only to receive a sniper round impacting against his forehead right between his eyes. The shot was so precise that it actually made him lunge back wildly in a daze as he placed a hand to where he'd been hit.

"Gah!" he cried mid-laugh before stumbling back and raising a congratulatory thumb in the direction of the shot's origin "Nice...shot-guh!"

Ruby looked up from her scope as Weiss and Blake landed nearby her "Think you did something permanent?" the Heiress asked in between breaths.

"He'll probably be just dandy in a minute." Ruby whined as she stood up "We need to hit him harder."

"There's only so many ways a girl can hit something." A voice off to the side drew their attention to Yang, who spat out some twigs and gave them a look of intense fury "Can someone please answer why this thing is LITERALLY tanking everything I throw at him?!"

As they talked, Ruby watched as Krimp massaged the spot where he'd been shot. He opened his eyes and began blinking to clear them as he slowly began to stand.

"Guys!" the Team leader gathered their attention "Proceed to look onto me, for I feel a plan coming along."

Krimp shook off the rest of his daze and stood to his feet, reaching back for his Bura Fruit and eating one before stretching and charging the girls with happy giggles. Blake and Weiss scampered to the sides as Ruby and Yang ran to meet the Uruk head on. Crescent Rose slammed into his gut, forcing him to step back despite being unable to pierce deeply enough into his flesh. As soon as the scythe was pulled free of his belly, Krimp swung his fist only for Ruby to leap back as Yang stepped in to continue pushing him back with another series of punches. Krimp chuckled happily as the explosive punches peppered his body and forced him backwards, both of his arms shot towards Yang only for Crescent Rose to force him back once more.

As the two sisters kept their combo strong, Weiss set up another Glyph behind the Friendly Uruk and shouted "Ready!" before darting off. The Bura-lover heard her, and turned around to check it out as Ruby crouched down for her Sister to leap off her and send a flying punch that sent Krimp stumbling onto the glyph. It launched him back even further, getting caught on Blake's ribbon which had been tied between two trees. And despite the ribbon holding up under the Uruk's immense weight, the trees it was tied between did not. They were uprooted, and the massive Uruk slammed into the ground as the two trees fell atop him.

Watching, Yang took a moment to crack her knuckles as Weiss set up another Glyph beside her "Try not to let him get up from this one." she said, the blonde nodded before taking a deep breath and letting her semblance activate. Krimp started lifting the two tress off of him with a merry hum, glancing up he saw the Brawler leap onto Weiss's glyph and suddenly launch towards him. Eyes-widening, the Uruk immediately shoved one tree to the side and dug his thick fingers into the bark of the other before lobbing it a the incoming flame that was Yang Xiao-long. Heading right towards her, the thrown tree was suddenly blasted off course by a sniper round. Silently thanking her sister, Yang's fist reared back as Krimp challenged it head on by throwing one of his own.

The impact of knuckles connecting with each other was massive, causing birds in distant trees to flee. The contact threw both Yang and Krimp away from each other, the brawler groaning and massaging her arm as she rose to her feet. After a blast like that, she wasn't surprised at how sore she felt afterwards, but glancing towards their opponent, she could tell she had clearly come out as the victor. Her teammates gathered around her, weapons raised as they watched the Uruk writhe on the ground for a moment. The lack of semblance seemed to have finally caught up with him, as despite his skin being unbroken, the force of the impact had been enough to thoroughly break his arm. The thick limb was twisted in a painful looking manner, but the Friendly Uruk still managed to smile as he rolled onto his knees and pushed himself to a sitting position with his good hand.

"Okay okay, pals," he said as he waved towards them "I concede, you win. Good game, Everybody!"

He delightfully slapped his good hand to his belly to simulate clapping as he cheered for them "Always good to blow off some steam with friends, eh?"

"Alright pal," Yang pointed at him accusingly "We just went through the wringer beating you, so no funny business or else we'll break your other arm."

"Oi!" he said as he wiped some imaginary sweat from his brow with a smile "I'd never run away from such accepting friends like you guys."

That gave them pause, a pause which Blake used to ask "Accepting?"

Krimp nodded "Mhm! All the other humans I ran across would scream and run while throwin' things back at me whenever I came 'round, so when you guys decided not only to _pursue_ me when my confidence was at an all time low, but to go so far as to have a friendly tussle' afterwards!"

The Uruk sighed, raising his good hand to fan at his eyes "I'm sorry, I've gone emotional on you all of a sudden."

"Okay Yang," Weiss turned towards the brawler "break his other arm."

"No no!" Krimp took a deep breath and placed a hand to his chest "I'm calm now, all steady and calm-like, no need for more rough-housing you rascals!"

Yang leaned back towards her teammates "Look, I don't know if I'd be able to pull off something like that again, guys."

"Don't worry," Ruby whispered back "just _act_ like you could! Its the same as performing, you're great at performing!"

Yang blinked, "Point taken."

The red-haired girl turned back towards the excessively friendly Uruk "Look, if we let you stand, do you promise not to run off again?"

"With friends like you, why would I ever run off?"

"Ehhh?" Ruby was not the only one unconvinced

"Are you about to doubt a friend like me?" he asked, looking as if he was steps away from shedding genuine tears.

"Ugh," Weiss groaned, "just get up already."

Sadness shifting back to happiness again, Krimp rolled onto his good arm and pushed himself back to his feet. The huntresses all readied their weapons once more as he towered over them once more, smiling all the while.

"So now that we've gotten through this no doubt memorable patch in our friendship," he said whilst gesturing towards them "what can I do for you, ol' chums?"

The Huntresses lowered their weapons a smidge, Blake piped up first "We're looking for one of your kind, Uruk is it?"

"Mhm!" Krimp nodded enthusiastically as he looked over his broken arm "Got a name? Krimpy's friends with lots of Uruks, know most by heart I do!"

"Well, we didn't actually get a name from him." Ruby admitted "We just know that he hung out with a big guy named Ashgarn and was covered in these disgusting puss-filled... things."

"Oh!" Krimp raised a finger "Bubol the Diseased, me younger brother's favorite friend! I know 'em."

Suddenly much more conscious of the similarities Krimp had with the devourer, Ruby swallowed nervously "Y-your brother?"

"Yep! Little Ashy always loved hangin' around Bubby, 'cause he was all supportive of him and such. They'd do all sorts of friendly things together, go raidin' together, hunt beasties together, and whenever they partnered up for a tussle, better watch out! Why, just a few days prior Bubby asked for me little kin's aid in recovering some Faunus folk who escaped him a while back. And like the helpful sort he is, Ashy agreed with next to no convincing required."

Ruby glanced towards Weiss, who gave her a stern look before shaking her head. Ruby turned back to Krimp, "So, would you happen to know where... Bubby is?"

"Well, I know where his camp is."

"Really?!"

Krimp nodded before pointing towards the small stream they'd cornered him at "This here stream trails all the way out of the valley to a cliff, then pours into a river along with several other streams that come from this 'ere mountain. Bubby's camp is right on the edge of that cliff, likes the sound of runnin' water. He likes throwin' parties there whenever he ain't playin' around with his other friends. Don't quite know if he's there at the time or not, though."

"So..." Ruby paused for a moment "I don't suppose you wouldn't mind taking us there?"

"Oh!" Krimp looked shocked, before regaining his teary smile "You want me to lead ya to one of my bestest friend's places? Of course!"

With that he lumbered over to the nearest stream and began marching along it in an overly jolly manner. The huntresses watched him for a moment before Weiss spoke up "Do you think we can trust him?"

"Absolutely not," Blake muttered "but we've got no other leads. There's always the possibility of him leading us into a trap."

"I don't know guys," Ruby murmured, gesturing to the still marching giant "do you really think he's just playing with us?"

"Well Weiss, you're our resident socialite," Yang piped up with a shrug of her shoulders "is he just screwing with us?"

Weiss groaned before putting a finger to her chin "I don't know, if he is then he's extremely good at it. There's just something about his smile, it almost seems... familiar in some way."

"Hey pals?"

They turned to see the massive Uruk waving them over "Don't wanna lose track of me now do ya?" he said with a giggle before turning and continuing to march.

"We'll just follow at a distance for now," Ruby concluded "eyes peeled ladies!"

And so they followed him, giving the crippled Uruk a wide berth in anticipation for some type of foul play to ensue. After passing under the stone bridge from earlier, the silence was broken by Krimp himself.

"Oh you guys'll just love Bubby's broth," Krimp said while glancing back to the cautious huntresses "he makes it with this delightful cream that really brings out the best of the flavor. Though where he gets ingredients is a mystery to me, what with him traveling so much it never seemed like he spent much time just explorin' like I do. Though I guess he could just ask one of his buddies for some fixings and all, but I always enjoy gettin' my meals on me own."

As if to emphasize his point, the giant reached into the sack and pulled out another Bura fruit before biting into it.

"So," Ruby couldn't help but speak "you were just going to eat them?"

"Of course!" Krimp answered as he stuffed the rest of it into his mouth "These plant things ain't no substitution for a real meaty meal, but they taste pretty good! And when you travel like I do ya gots to learn how to properly enjoy both to fill ya up on the go!"

"You travel a lot," Blake spoke up now with a suspicious look now visible on her face "mind sharing where exactly you've been?"

The Uruk snapped his fingers "Oh I've been all over this realm lady, been hiking through snowy mountains, traveled through the desert, stowed away on a ship for several days and even hitched a ride on one of them air boat thingies across that east continent, oh the sights that I saw!"

"That much?" the Faunus said "how long have you been traveling?"

"Eh, didn't really pick up speed until last month or so. After then I was going everywhere."

"Last month?" the heiress interjected as her eyes narrowed in skepticism, she picked up the pace a bit to ask "Are you saying you did all that in less than two months?!"

"Guess so, what fine times its been!" Krimp devolved into humored giggles once more as the huntresses looked on with disbelief.

"Hey Princess, you okay there?" Yang asked

"He has to be lying," Weiss spoke up as she glanced to the ground for a moment then turned to the Brawler "If what he's saying is true then he's been to all four kingdoms in less than two months, he'd have to stow away on a plethora of ships and he doesn't look like a stealthy individual."

"Maybe he is." Blake offered "We already know he's much faster than someone of his size ought to be, maybe we shouldn't rule out stealth just yet."

"So," Ruby tried to keep him talking "how long have you and your friends been in Vale?"

"Oh, we just arrived a couple months ago, before then we was in that sandy place to the west." Krimp said as he stepped a log, shattering it beneath his feet as he continued along in blissful ignorance.

"You mean Vacuo? How long have your people lived there?"

"We was there for about a week till Bubby got lots of us movin' along this way." the Uruk then gave a sigh "Before then we was from a very distant place called Mordor, dark, violent, beautiful Mordor!"

The Huntresses didn't even have to talk with each other to conclude that not one of them had ever heard of any place like that "So, how did you guys get to Vacuo?"

"One of me brother's buddies had this glorious ritual he dreamed up, said it'd give all us Uruk a power that would help us overcome any who could stand against us. But it turned a bit sour, sucked up several thousand of us and dropped us in the sandy place!"

"Several thousand!?" the heiress paled at the thought of a hundred of these disgusting things running around Remnant, but a thousand. The looks on the girls' faces broadcasted several layers of concern growing at the implication, a few dozen had raided a village, a few hundred could easily pillage dozens more, but a few thousand were enough to launch a proper attack on a city!

"Yeah, would be more if we had a spawn pit with us." Krimp said before shrugging "The only Uruk who came with us who kept the ingredients for one of those on hand disappeared when Bubby led a bunch of us 'ere."

"A spawn pit? Let me guess," the Heiress sighed "it makes more of you?"

"Mhm!" the Uruk slapped his hand to his belly to applaud her guess as the trees grew a bit more sparse "Lots of new friends!"

"You say you know most Uruks," Yang said as she stepped past a bush "you wouldn't happen to know where this Uruk with the Spawn thing is, would you?"

Krimp shook his head "Nope, sorry friends, he's even more elusive than I am. But ya know who ain't?"

He gestured towards the edge of the tree line, where some figures could be seen. The huntresses immediately got low as the image of a small camp near a cliff could be seen past the trees, a small number of shapes moving around it. Yang gestured for the massive Uruk to get down, his size proving the most eye-drawing thing amongst them. He did so with a smile, though sat a bit awkwardly to avoid straining his broken arm.

Receiving a nod from Yang, Ruby raised her scythe which shifted into a full sniper rifle before glancing through its scope. The camp had several Uruks, far fewer than what had been there during the raid, with only a small tent and several shabby cots spread around a brightly lit fire. Right in front of that fire were a few Faunus kneeling, restrained by thick ropes. And pacing in front of them was Bubol, the diseased Uruk walked back and forth speaking to his captives in an enthusiastic manner. The camp was perched on the very edge of a cliff, as Krimp had said, with the tips of tall trees visible beyond it and the sound of rushing water being audible even from there.

She relayed this to her Team, who crept up for a better view of the situation as well.

"This seems like a much more manageable number." Weiss muttered

"Yeah, but we already know Bubol's far more skilled at fighting than we originally thought." Blake pointed out "With so few Uruks here to support him, perhaps we should try taking him down first and deal with the rest swiftly."

"Stealthy approach then?" Yang offered with a smirk.

Blake nodded before placing a finger to her own chin "It'd probably be best if we had something to distract them with."

Ruby snapped her fingers and turned around "Hey Krimp, could y-?"

He was gone. The Leader, soon followed by her teammates, glanced about the space where the massive Uruk once sat but found that nary a trace was left of him.

"W-we just looked a way for several seconds..." Weiss stared in disbelief

"So what were you saying about him not being the stealthy type?" Yang asked the heiress, who just groaned in response.

"Doesn't look like he tried signaling them," Blake, who had turned to look over the camp once more, spoke up to her teammates "we should still be able to pull this off."

Joining her in her watch, the rest of Team RWBY found that she was correct. The Uruks were still milling about, Bubol was still taunting his prisoners, who were still either shivering fear or glaring at the Uruk in defiance.

"Still," Yang muttered "after all we went through to take him down..."

"We reached our destination much more easily because of it," Weiss pointed out "we'll worry about him after we free the hostages."

"But we still need to distract them." Ruby sighed before locking eyes with her sister.

Minutes later the two were walking towards the little camp, weapons raised.

"There's no way they're gonna fall for this." Yang muttered to her sister as the first Uruks noticed their approach and called for their leader.

"Just have faith sis, we just need to keep his focus on us." the Red-head responded.

As they approached, they noticed that all the Uruks there seemed to have crossbows. Their normal swords and clubs were all sheathed, instead they gripped the ranged weapons tightly on their approach. They also noticed that all of them were lanky like Bubol himself, who sported a grin as he stepped past the rest of the Archers and placed a hand on his hip, which had strange capsules tied to it now for some reason.

"Well well," he said in a sultry tone as he looked them up and down "if it ain't the cute little tarks who went and broke my favorite toy."

"We want you to release those captives." Ruby spoke up, hefting her weapon for emphasis

"Them? On no, sweetness!" Bubol waved her off "Since you guys went and broke my toy, I simply must get new ones to replace him. Was plannin' on just killin 'em in a grand fashion for escapin' me before. But now I feel like I should take my time with 'em, get rid 'o some of this pent up aggression I seem to have come down with for some strange unknown reason."

"You don't want to end up like your pal, do you?" Yang threatened, gesturing towards the archers behind him "You don't have nearly enough lackeys to cover you like you did back at Yires."

"Well see the problem with 'at is that I didn't really take you lot seriously at that tark village," Bubol said before chuckling, seemingly unaware of the figure moving around the camp behind them "and as a result I lost my little love dumplin'. Don't really plan on makin' the same mistake twice, sweetness."

"You don't really believe you could take us on do you?" Yang asked, subtly glancing behind the Uruk as a weapon was raised behind him.

"Actually," Bubol started before immediately throwing himself to the side as a Glyph appeared where his feet once were, Weiss's eyes shot up towards him as he came up bow raised and fired at her. She immediately jumped out of the way as the bolt sailed past the trees beyond.

The captain stood and continued "I feel as though you lot are in even worse condition than the last time we fought."

Weiss took a breath and raised Myrtenaster as half of the Uruk archers turned towards her instead, Bubol glanced between her and the two siblings "Honestly, could 'ere her draggin' her feet since before ya even tried this crummy little thing. Spent too much time in the army for cheap tricks like that to get m-"

Bubol stopped mid-sentence and jerked his head up just in time to see Blake descend towards him blade aiming for his head, gritting his teeth in annoyance for letting one get this close he immediately crossed his arms above his head and caught her wrist between them. The tip of Gambol Shroud rested just above one diseased eye before he shoved the Faunus off of him. Blake landed several feet away from him, and three more Archers turned towards her as well.

"What about that one?" Yang asked as the Captain turned back to them, he seemed agitated for a moment before letting his rage melt back into another perverted grin.

"Oh ya know I always enjoy a lass who tries takin' me _hard_ by surprise every now and then," he mentioned before giving a lusty groan "but I still don't think you girls have the gumption to give a needy little runt like me the _attention_ he needs."

Yang shivered at that wording before glancing towards her sister "Ruby, when we get back you and I are gonna have a long talk about things, just a heads up from me to you."

Bubol tilted his head to the side, infected eyes shifting between the Huntresses one after another before raising his wrist-bow and letting the blades extend once more "Fill 'em with nice sharp things!" he shouted with glee as the Archers fired on their different targets.

Blake darted forward under the first two arrows and spun out of the way of the third, two of the archers began reloading while the third tossed his crossbow to the ground and drew his sword. Blake intercepted his first swing and swung her sheath into the side of his head, making him stumble to the side as she went for the other archers. Before she could reach them, however, Bubol's grapple shot over both of their shoulders and latched onto her blouse before pulling her through the air towards him. Blake immediately made a shadow clone which dissipated in the claw's grasp as she dashed back, but Bubol merely cackled before stopping the grapple's pull and instead twisting it to the side. The claw and cord came full circle and slammed into Blake's side, effectively slapping her to the ground as the Uruk she tossed aside earlier charged her.

"No runnin' from me, sweetness!" Bubol called out as he stepped towards her, only to be spun around as Myrtenaster slashed across his back.

His greenish aura flashed as he spun, just in time to parry the next stab of the Schnee's rapier. Weiss pulled back and jabbed forward in rapid succession, forcing the Uruk Captain to dodge and weave past her attacks before suddenly crouching low and sweeping his leg towards her feet. Weiss managed to jump up to avoid the sweep, a glyph appeared between them as Bubol rose. Her feet connected with the glyph, which slammed into Bubol and knocked him away.

He slid past Yang, who was busy swinging one Uruk into another, and came up on his feet just in time to sidestep Crescent Rose, which cleaved through the ground he previously stood upon. Ruby spun Crescent Rose towards him, prompting him to duck under the swing and charge shoulder first into the Red-Themed huntress. Ruby stepped back from the impact and swung her scythe back in time to deflect more of Bubol's bolts, after which she darted towards the diseased lunatic, who brought up his wrist bow just in time to deflect her next slash. He grinned as he stepped back, prompting Ruby to unload more rounds at him, and his eyes flashed green as he raised his weapon once more.

Seven rounds were fired from Crescent rose, and seven bolts perfectly intercepted them on their way to their intended target, causing a minor explosion to separate the two with a cloud of smoke. Bubol stepped back with a laugh as he gripped his wrist-bow with his other arm and aimed it towards the cloud, stopping once he felt a finger tap on the shoulder. The Captain turned to find Yang flashing him a smile before gripping hard on his shoulder and pulling her knee into his gut. Air violently escaped his mouth as he backed up, clutching his stomach as he raised his wrist-bow.

"The nice sting of flesh colliding!" he laughed maniacally as Yang charged him, grabbing hold of his weapon, Yang raised it upwards as it harmlessly discharged its bolt towards the sky. Grip still strong, she blasted Bubol several times while he was still recovering before swinging him over her shoulder into the air. Steeling her stance, Yang cocked Ember Celica as Bubol oriented himself as he fell. Watching as she let loose a barrage of shotgun blasts at him, Bubol's eyes flashed green again as he fired a red bolt into the midst of the oncoming blasts.

It exploded, taking all of the rounds with it as Bubol landed just beyond his camp and had to halt his movement with his feet before he could slide off the edge of the cliff. Scrambling to his feet with more sick laughter, Bubol's head jerked back as his eyes locked onto Yang's incoming figure. Smirking, the Diseased Uruk raised his Wrist-Bow once more and fired several more bolts which the Brawler side-stepped as she closed the distance. His eyes flashed green and he gripped the weapon as she approached, firing the grapple instead.

The claw latched onto her gauntlet similar to last time, but she was ready now. He zipped towards her, firing two bolts as the distance between them shrunk to nothing. She leaned out of the way of the bolts and crouched under the Uruk as he sailed over her. Landing on his feet, Bubol turned while Yang stood, swinging his bow's blade as at her while the grapple pulled them close once more. Yang managed to stop her own movement by slamming a foot down, nimbly evading his swipe once more. Bubol skidded to a halt and turned back towards her with an eyebrow raised at the sudden ineffectiveness of his previous technique.

Yang flashed a smirk in his direction before cocking her free gauntlet, Bubol copied her smirk as he raised his wrist-bow and his eyes flashed green again. Yang fired a round which connected with the bolt he discharged, another cloud of smoke was the result. Yang felt the grapple on her gauntlets go slack...

...and then a second Grapple emerged from the cloud and caught her other arm.

Stunned, Yang's head shot up as she saw the ends of the two cords come into view, only to find that they were connected. They were both two ends of the same cord, pulling until they snapped together, effectively restraining both her arms! The cloud cleared just in time for her to see an empty shell ejected from Bubol's bow, the diseased Uruk pulled a canister from his belt and slid it into the wrist-mounted weapon as his grin grew wider. Eyes growing wide, Yang backpedalled and raised both her arms as Bubol darted towards her.

She fired, Bubol rolled under her blasts, firing his grapple at her boot as he slid past her and wrapped the cord around her back. Yang spun quickly, swinging both her arms in an attempt to dislodge the Uruk before he could restrain her even further. This proved fruitless however, as Bubol leaped around her, cord pulling taut as he fired the other end at her other boot. Now unable to even bend her legs, Yang struggled to turn as Bubol spoke.

"Love tying up naughty little girls" he cackled before lunging forward and grabbing hold of her head "they always get so wet and messy afterwards!"

With that Bubol pulled Yang passed him and sent her sailing off the cliff.

"NO!"

Bubol turned just in time for a red blur to barrel into him and knock him off the cliff along with it.

"Ruby wait!" Weiss could be heard yelling out as her partner and the Uruk Captain disappeared over the side of the cliff.

Ruby immediately shoved Bubol away from her as the two of them fell, the river below being much closer than she originally anticipated. Bubol whipped his weapon towards the trees on the other side of the river as Ruby swung the edge of Crescent Rose into the side of the cliff to halt her descent. Soon the Uruk grappled into the trees, but Ruby was far more concerned with the head of blonde hair she spotted struggling in the river's fierce current. Yang seemed to be managing to keep her head above water at the time being, but the force of the river's current would see to that soon enough.

Taking a breath, Ruby ran along Cliffside, keeping her sister in sight as she sought a position she could grab her from. A flash of light from the trees on the other side of the river caught her attention, and she glanced quickly enough to see the incoming bolt. She skidded lower on the Cliffside to avoid it, gritting her teeth as she spotted Bubol's form grappling between the trees to keep up. Forcing herself to focus on her endangered sibling, Ruby became a blur of petals as she took off along the Cliffside. Bubol's bolts came at a slightly quicker rate, prompting the red blur to bob and weave to avoid them. Up ahead she could see the cliff rounding away from the river, luckily more trees sprouted up ahead. Leaping from the Cliffside, she swung Crescent Rose, the edge catching on a thick branch and letting her swing to the ground below. Glancing again at Yang's easily identifiable blonde hair, Ruby picked up the pace once more.

Running along the edge of the river, Ruby aimed Crescent Rose to her side as she ran parallel to her sister. Pulling the trigger, she launched towards her sister, sailing just above the river's current. Reaching one hand towards her Sister, she heard a giddy "No no no!" before looking up to see Bubol swinging towards her on his grapple. His feet connected with Ruby's shoulders before she could grab hold of her sister, and the young huntress was sent sailing back to the edge of the river with the Uruk in tow.

He leaped off her as she hit the ground, spinning towards her with a cackle as the grapple sped back to him. Struggling to get up, Ruby raised Crescent Rose to intercept the next slash of his wrist-bow, the grapple extending a bit from it as the claw opened. Bubol twisted, whipping the cord towards Ruby several times. Each time she twirled Crescent Rose to deflect it, mid-twirl Ruby pulled the trigger and caught the Uruk in the leg during his next swing. Though his Aura held firm it caused him to stumble a bit, which was more than enough allow Ruby to change directions and swing her weapon back again. This time the blunt end of Crescent Rose caught the Uruk in his side, lifting him off his feet and flinging him into the nearby trees.

Spinning on her heels again, the red-head ran back to the river. She was horrified to find that she could not see Yang's hair anymore, panic taking root at a much deeper level as she sped up, eyes scanning more frantically for a sign of-there! At the edge of the river up ahead, a familiar blonde form was lying on the ground beside the river. Quickly dashing across the river, Ruby spun to her sister's motionless form and immediately dropped to her knees beside her.

Immediately turning her over, Ruby let out a breath of unimaginable relief to find that Yang was breathing. Unconscious but alive, much to the younger sibling's thanks. She was about to pull Yang further from the river when she heard it. Head jerking up, she saw a grapple attached to one of the nearby trees. Following it, she saw Bubol zip across the river towards them whilst releasing a giddy chuckle. Setting her sister to the side as gently as she could while in a rush, Ruby hefted Crescent Rose and fired at the incoming Uruk. He fired a bolt which caught her round as his grapple detached and he sailed over her onto the ground, skidding to a stop. He turned quickly, just in time to sidestep another round and charge Ruby.

Their weapons connected twice before Bubol backed up and fired a bolt at her, Ruby sped through the air over it and towards the Uruk. He bumped into a tree, which he climbed on and leaped from as Crescent Rose cleaved through its stump. As the Tree slowly began to fall, she turned and swung her weapon to deflect several more bolts as Bubol backed up against another tree. Firing at him again as she closed distance, Ruby leaped towards him spinning with her scythe in a circle of death which Bubol quickly rolled under. She landed against the tree, glancing up just as Bubol stood and fired his grapple at her. She leaped off the tree, letting the Grapple pass under her and grab hold of the tree behind her.

Bubol backed up as Crescent Rose dug its tip into the ground before him, with Ruby swinging herself on her weapon until her boots connected with the Uruk. As Bubol stumbled back he pointed his wrist bow behind him and fired the other end of the grappling hook. Pulling Crescent Rose out of the ground, the young huntress swiped at the Uruk once more. His grin stretching to comical proportions as he leaped back out of the way of her slash, and her eyes grew to comical proportions as well once she saw the tree she'd cleaved through earlier get pulled right beneath him. Pulled by Bubol's grapple from earlier, the tree slammed into Ruby, pulling her off her feet and dragging her entire body right back to the tree the other end of the grapple was attached to. The force made her Aura flash intensely at the sheer amount of damage it was suddenly defending against. She felt the strain of it as she was sandwiched between the trees and felt the one behind her snap from the pressure. Her entire vision went dark.

...

...

Ruby's eyes slowly opened, everything felt so sore. She had lost hold of her precious weapon when the two trees had nearly crushed her between them, and she could barely move. She heard a humming sound to her right and twisted her head to the side to see an unsavory form approach.

"Oh, ya still alive lass?" Bubol questioned as he leaned down towards Ruby's downed form. This close, she could more easily see the subdued form of her sister slung over his shoulder. She tried moving again, only causing that sore feeling to change into pain.

"No no sweetness, that precious Aura of yours is gone." Bubol told her with a smirk and a shrug as he placed his free hand on his hip "Now you ain't no more trouble than the hundred of tarks I've already ended. So why bother?"

With that he winked at her and cackled some more, Ruby's head hurt, keeping her eyes open this long was exhausting.

"Good pal o' mine will be pretty pleased when ah bring 'em this treat 'ere." Bubol nodded towards Yang, free hand shaking in what must have been sheer giddiness "I might even have a new toy by the end of the week!"

The Uruk finally seemed to calm down, giving a sigh before looking at the young huntress in training for a moment more "Ya know, I was planning on steppin on ya head until it popped open all nice and gooey-like. But seein' that defeated look in ya eyes is gettin' me heated in all the right ways, sweetness."

Bubol fanned at himself for emphasis "Haven't been gettin' that feelin' since you girls killed off dear Ashy! So how's about instead we do this again sometime?" he leaned down to her a bit "You come find me again so I can beat ya down and _revel_ in that look again, eh girl?"

He put a hand to his ear, Ruby's pained groan being the only response. He pressed a bony hand to his filthy mouth and blew her a kiss with a wink "Great! See ya then, lass. I'll be waitin'!"

And with that, Bubol walked out of sight. Ruby tried moving her head again, but the overwhelming soreness wouldn't allow that. With nothing to focus on, her eyelids soon drooped closed as she blacked out.

* * *

 **Somewhere on Vale's border**

A cave was lit up by a fire, inside four forms were seated around it. One of these forms was propped up against another, her hair messy from all the rough traveling she'd been put through these past few days. The figure she was leaned against shifted forwards to properly speak to the other two.

"So they chased ya off," Zog said slowly "but how did ya find each other in the woods then?"

Tuka folded his arms over his chest while glancing towards the hooded Uruk at his side "Coincidence, I stumbled upon this worm trying to fight off one of the dark beasts with one of the Tark weapons he collected during the raid. Needless to say he would've been killed and consumed had I not offered my assistance."

"Wasn't my fault!" Uthug shouted before hefting the musket in his hands "How was I supposed to know this damn thing could shoot?"

"You didn't see that human filth trying to fight the Diseased with it during the raid?" the berserker asked with a roll of his eyes "Your perception is astounding."

"Don't think I won't aim it at you," the hooded-Uruk grumbled, then nodded towards something behind him "or maybe at that 'precious cargo' of yours."

"Or maybe I break both your arms if you tried."

"Fellas fellas please!" Zog said as he gestured for them to calm down "How 'bout a song? When me old gang used to get antsy, a good ol' song always seemed to bring up the morale. We's gonna need it for the rest of the trip guys."

"Are you seri-"

"I think that is an excellent idea." Tuka interrupted Uthug, gesturing towards the Shield-barer as the warrior groaned. Zog brightened at that, turning towards his captive "Another song! Ain't that a treat?"

Without waiting for her mumbled reply, Zog cleared his throat "Now this one's about a big 'un that we all probably know by now."

 _Traveling the lands with a large smile,_  
 _an Uruk who seemed to travel miles._

 _Unknown the number of places he's been,_  
 _Uruks paid plenty for what he has seen._

 _With a large number of friends to his name,_  
 _his social prowess was greatly untamed._

 _The need to greet everything he could see,_  
 _had him face great dangers he'd often flee._

 _He was far quicker than one would expect,_  
 _stealthy was the one labeled the defect._

 _Yes, his kin would never see eye-to-eye,_  
 _with the Uruk, no matter what he'd try._

 _But with the strength of one with his great size,_  
 _he'd boundlessly search for his greatest prize._

 _"What was it: those friends? escape from his past?"_  
 _No, this Uruk sought power which would last._

* * *

 **AN: Well, this got out far earlier than I expected, and with an even higher word count than the last chapter. I'm quite certain its because I got a few portions done while working on the last chapter, so I'm pretty sure nearly 15.5k words a week isn't going to be a common occurrence. Anyway, since there's not much for the AN here I suppose I'll respond to the guest reviews here.**

 **Starting with the Guests who posted on October 10th and November 1st, since their questions are similar in that they ask about things which may happen in the future. I've taken all those concerns into consideration back when I was first typing up chapter one, so I can say with absolute certainty that they will be resolved in future chapters.**

 **Then there's the Guest who posted on November 14th, I'd like to quickly thank you for enjoying the story so far, who asked whether or not the Ranger will make an appearance. The answer is simply no, I didn't have a problem with Shadow of Mordor's main character like many others have, for often times understandable reasons. However, I don't see him being able to fit well in the kind of story I'm planning. But that doesn't mean that some of the Uruks won't remember some of his actions from the game, so they may mention him from time to time in relevant situations.**

 **The other review was a helpful bit of criticism from ROG41 who I'm grateful to for pointing out some of my flaws which I have now taken into consideration, but other than that it seems this is just about wrapped up.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoy, any and all criticisms positive or negative are welcomed in full so leave a review if you are so inclined to do.**

 **Next Chapter: The Prowlers**


	5. Chapter 5: The Prowlers

**Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of The Rings, the Middle-Earth universe, Shadow of Mordor or RWBY.**

 **This work will contain moments of intense violence, dark and dirty humor, and canonical divergences.**

* * *

 **The Prowlers**

"-so that should run you anywhere between three kegs of Grog and... a real quick feely right behind the tent over there."

"Sounds good, but I don't think I'll be following you into any dark corners Bubol."

The name tickled at Yang's subconscious, the rest of the conversation popped in and out but that name immediately made her attempt to growl in fury.

"-also came with these lovely things which I'm just generous enough to leave with you as 'er new owner and all." Bubol spoke up again

"These seem pretty nifty actually, they'll look great on my belt."

There was a slight pause, before the brawler heard that damned archer say "Really?"

"What do you mean 'really'?"

"Well its just that I was hopin' you'd try 'em on just for lil' ol' me." Bubol's pleads apparently fell on deaf ears

"Yeah no," whomever he spoke to replied with nary a hint of worry "going on the belt, buddy."

"Well didn't I hear from one of ya handsome little entourage members that Ratlug's been goin' haywire lookin over all the weaponry you guy's been collectin'?"

"I don't plan on letting him anywhere near these bad boys, if it's so necessary for his research then he can speak to the Grand Shaman himself."

Able to see a bit more, Yang spotted the plague-ridden form of Bubol shrugging woefully "Eh whatever darling, I suppose someone as big and important as you doesn't need mindful advice from 'is poor, rejected ol' friend."

"Are you... crying?"

"No no!" Bubol cried out as he dramatically leaned against what Yang could only imagine to be a door "Just leave me to wallow in my overwhelmin', soul crushin' loneliness, love."

"Jeez Bubol, I don't really know what you want me to say." the archer's unfortunate business partner replied with a nonchalant shrug "Whenever you get like this it usually leaves me feeling pretty guilty so... I dunno, maybe you can come to the fights I put her in, I could have a few words with Mozu and-"

"Is 'at so?" Bubol stalked over and leaned dangerously close to his partner, who casually leaned out of the way of the Archer's overwhelmingly bulbous boils. The buyer simply nodded, prompting Bubol to reach out a boney hand and pat him on the shoulder "Good to know ya still lookin' out for the little guys, sweetness."

With that he made for the door "She hits pretty hard with those beauties, be fun to see how hard she hits without 'em." were his final words before departing. Now alone with what she could assume to be the Uruk that diseased rat just sold her to, Yang twisted her head to get a better look at him. It was unnecessary, as he gave a sigh after Bubol's exit and immediately turned to walk over to her.

Her vision was still blurry, but she could easily make out the strangely white-looking skin of his with what could only be blue stripes running on him. He knelt near her and leaned in close before gripping her chin with his hand lookin' her over.

"Hey there, how ya feeling?" he asked as if he was asking her at a bus stop and not right after purchasing her like a fruit from a store.

She tried to voice her appropriate response in the form of some choice swears she'd picked up in her long time of sagely partying, but found that whatever they'd gagged her with was more than apt at holding back her profanities. Though it momentarily made her question why he asked her anyway, it seemed her murmurs were enough to satisfy him.

"Good, nice to meet you Yang. The name's Krosh, now how's about you get some shut eye?" he offered with a simple tilt of his head "Because you're going to need that energy all too soon."

* * *

 **Vacuo- Desert Tower: The Shanties**

"So where'd you get it?"

Ishga glanced up from the incomplete gate towards Maku, who had limbed on top of a nearby crate and was looking over the great number of hastily structured buildings around them. The shanty town located at the base of the desert tower, it looked much worse up close than it needed to be. Ishga knew that with their time and resources they couldn't exactly complain too much, if Hork was right about anything it was that this shanty town was suitable for the location. Still sandy and uncomfortable, but it was only a small change from the dirty and uncomfortable Ishga was used to back in Uruk's Hollow.

"Get what?" he finally asked as he turned away from the Warmonger

"The wood, I see signs of wood in plenty of these buildings but not a tree for miles." his brother turned to him with a cocked eyebrow

"Eh, most of that's from the useless furniture we found in the tower." he said as he resumed working on the Gate "Unnecessary stuff like some doors, paintings, parts of that exceedingly long dining table."

Maku could practically hear the other spear-thrower audibly roll his eyes at that one, and simply nodded before pulling something from his pocket and opening it as his brother got to work. Ishga heard tapping, but focused on finishing the Dreamer Gate. Once he was, he turned around to confirm it only to pause at the sight before him.

Maku was holding something up in both hands, aiming it around and tapping at it every once in a while. Their original goal temporarily paused to the side, Ishga pointed towards the device "Brother, what are you doing with one of those human trinkets."

"You mean my scroll?" Maku asked without looking away, taking several more pictures as he continued speaking "The Grand Shaman wished for all Warmongers to be able to find some use in these contraptions, I suppose I was the one who discovered its ability to instantly paint images into itself."

"Hork's soldiers always just toss those things in with the rest of the pilfered goods," Ishga mumbled "I had assumed they were unimportant.

The Warmonger smirked at that "The Bladesmith's been going mad with contraptions like this, trust me when I say these toys hold far more value than the trinkets of the menfolk of our realm were. Shaman plans on having all of the Storm using these if Ratlug can figure out how to more easily explain them."

Ishga simply watched for a moment before turning and placing some kindling upon the gate. Several moments later the Dreamer Gate bubbled for a moment, distorting as the two Spear-throwers looked on waiting for it to finish. In only a few seconds an image popped in focus. One of a bound Human tied to a chair with the sounds of wind entering an open window nearby.

Before their eyes, Tarz the Surgeon stepped into view next to the subdued human, looking back at them in awe "It DOES work, what a treat, eh?"

He cackled sickly before reaching for his apron and drawing a filthy pencil, stolen from a particularly wordy captive. He wrote some stuff on a piece of paper lying on a nearby table, then began moving the table out of the way.

"Now Tarz I expect a proper explanation for why we had to set up the other end of the portal here." Ishga spoke up as he watched the Surgeon move about, narrowing his eyes as he hadn't expected them to be using human subjects just yet.

"Soon. Now you'll believe me when I say that this'll be one of the greatest things you've seen in your years, pal." Tarz smirked back at the camera before drawing a small blade from his apron and walking out of sight, "Might wanna' stand clear of the portal soon."

The Spear-throwers glanced at each other for a moment before backing away from the Dreamer Gate. As they did so, Maku seemed to have a revelation.

"Oh, so that's what he's doing." the Warmonger said before folding his arms.

"What?" Ishga looked to him with another questioning glance "What exactly is this?"

"No real trouble, Ratlug tried something similar during our trials." his brother stated before looking up.

Getting the idea, the Red-themed Uruk followed his counterpart's gaze upwards to see something falling towards them. Coming at great speeds, the object fell almost perfectly into the center of the Dreamer Gate. The familiar sound of metal on flesh reverberated for only a second as the two hunters leaned back over the Dreamer Gate to see Tarz looking over the subdued human, who now had a knife protruding from their skull.

The Surgeon whooped and hollered "I didn't think it'd be _that_ perfect, haha!"

"Wasteful!" Ishga accused as he pointed towards the foul-faced Uruk "We could've used that Human to see if it melted their flesh off or something, see if its hazardous to living creatures."

"We still can." Tarz said with a chuckle before grabbing hold of the corpse's chair in both hands.

"Wait, that's not what- Don't you even think about it, worm!" the Blood-Storm yelled as the Surgeon walked out of sight with the chair and corpse. He growled right before feeling Maku tap him on the shoulder. Jerking his head towards his brother, Ishga watched him point upwards before following his finger up towards the significantly larger object spiraling down towards them from the tower. The Red-Themed Uruk groaned disdainfully as he and his brother quickly gave distance to the Dreamer Gate, right before the Chair and human combo haphazardly smashed into its edge before gravity dragged it inside.

The impact had shattered parts of the chair, sending bits of blood and wood which flew past the hunters and clattered against the walls of nearby shanties.

Grumbling, Ishga stepped back towards the Dreamer Gate to see Tarz nearly doubled over in laughter.

"You imbecile," he growled towards the Surgeon "I don't think I have to mention the significant difference between a corpse and a living, breathing human. We should-"

"You're absolutely right." Tarz unexpectedly halted his laughter as he stood straight and stared at Ishga with a smirk whilst raising a finger in apparent revelation "We should toss some living tarks out there and see what they scream on the way down!"

"That's not the point I was trying to-" the Blood-Storm yelled even as Tarz bolted from sight, presumably to find more of their useless slaves to waste.

Watching his brother groan, Maku smiled and patted him on the back as he walked past him "Take comfort, he still isn't as bad as Ratlug."

"Oh," Ishga queried as he straightened up "how so?"

"Well, Ratlug tried Uruk trials first, then tests for the wild animals we could've been eating, then followed that with Pinkskins and followed that with Dark Beasts."

"And by dark beasts you mean..."

"Grimm, wanted to see if we could stuff some into the Gates without incurring adverse side effects."

The two were silent for a moment.

"How'd that go?" Blood-Storm finally asked

"About as well as one could expect from a plan such as that." Maku sighed, shrugging as he glanced off to the side "I got set on fire and was nearly crushed to death. But the Grand Shaman found it quite entertaining, so I can't really complain."

* * *

 **The Vale Wilderness**

Ruby's head tilted to the side as her eyes twitched, probably in response to whatever dream she was currently experiencing. Weiss had been watching her for some time now, having spent far more time checking on her injured partner than she should've allowed herself. Blake hadn't come to mention anything, so perhaps she also knew how troubling it was to see your partner in this condition. In that regards, Weiss knew she should feel more guilt, she still had her partner. There was no telling what that disgusting wretch had done with Yang. As if the mere thought of what happened to her sister drew forth fury, Ruby's face contorted into one of anger for a moment as she muttered her sister's name in her sleep.

After defeating the rest of his underlings, Blake and Weiss had made sure that the hostages were in fit condition to travel. Blake had insisted leaving them restrained, as the sheer amount of fury they held in their eyes whilst staring at the heiress easily rivaled that which they held towards the malformed archer that had been no-doubt planning to torture them. Therefore, it had taken far longer than it should've to go searching for their missing partners. The last thing either of them had seen was Bubol tossing Yang off a cliff, immediately followed by Ruby taking him over the side with her as she raced to aid her sibling.

Weiss had been conflicted in that moment, as a Huntress-in-training she had sworn that protecting the people of Remnant would always come first. Despite the resentment she had felt radiating off both the archers and their prisoners, she could even convince herself that the Fang members took priority as the actual target. If the Uruks made off with the prisoners whilst she or Blake aided their fellow huntresses, it would probably eat at her. But knowing that she wasn't there to aid her teammates, losing one teammate and having the other incapacitated, that ate at her as well.

When they had found Ruby, the scene was a mess, torn trees and rose petals scattered about with two odd casings that Weiss had seen Bubol ejecting during their encounter. All with Ruby's unconscious form lying right in the middle of it. Having been unable to locate Yang, they had guessed either she'd been swept away by the current or taken by Bubol himself. They could only hope at this point that Yang was alive, but had other matters to deal with. After securing Ruby, they'd made quick to move her and the hostages from the area, as the White Fang members produced far too much negativity to risk staying in one spot for long.

With not many other options available, the two had hurried the prize back to the closest location they could think of, Yires Village. Many villagers were too stubborn to even attempt leaving the village, despite the risks, but those who had already planned an exodus immediately offered to take them along.

Weiss was now in the back of a wagon, a fairly large one at that. Made of wood and metal, the entire interior seemed more like a cart than a carriage. It would make sense, given the sheer amount of supplies stacked along its interior edges, strapped down thoroughly and moved to the sides to provide ample room for Ruby. The other carriages were far to full of either fleeing villagers or supplies, luckily the owner of this carriage was more than willing to make room for the injured huntress-in-training.

Knowing she had spent far too long inside the cart, Weiss finally parted ways with Ruby. Opening the rear doors of the well-built wagon, Weiss looked down to see the trail passing underneath her. Climbing out onto the wagon, she made sure to close and secure the doors before climbing atop the wagon. On top, Blake sat with her feet dangling off the edges, eyes intently scanning the tree line.

"How is she?" the Faunus asked without letting up in her surveillance.

"Still muttering Yang's name." Weiss said with a sigh before giving a faint smile "But other than that staying as stubborn as always."

Blake nodded "Good, after we get her to Beacon, we'll need to ask her what that Archer did with her sister."

"Of course, maybe learn of where he might have taken her."

Blake didn't respond to that for some time, eyes still locked onto the nearby canopy "Yeah... if he did take her."

"Blake, I know its... taxing," the Heiress began as she glanced own for a moment in contemplation "but I have a feeling that Yang isn't-

"You don't know that." Blake interrupted evenly "I don't want to think about it Weiss, but you of all people should know that I have to be ready for if these... suspicions, become reality."

"I often try to be the realist," the Schnee admitted before hardening her gaze "but I don' think Yang would just let herself be killed by some bolt-firing pervert."

"That bolt-firing pervert nearly put Ruby in a coma."

"Yes, Blake..." Weiss lowered her tone a bit "I noticed."

"Don't get so defensive," Blake spoke up, finally turning to meet her White-Haired teammates eyes "you offered a safer solution and we took the one of greater reward, then paid for it."

"Don't say it like that."

"But it's true!" Blake turned back to the trees with a sigh "If we had gone back and gotten help from professionals, things would've gone differently. Instead we rushed in and got half our team put out of commission, tell me I'm wrong. You know someone like Glynda or Oobleck, people with years of experience on us, would've had much less difficulty rescuing those captives."

"That's a crass way of putting it, Blake. True, I disagreed immensely, but you all admittedly acted as Huntresses. Putting those you believed to be in peril above your own safety, whether it was a knowledgeable plan or not, it was quite...heroic."

"Weren't you guys telling me about how dangerous heroic sacrifice was just a couple months ago?"

"I'm just trying to help make you feel better." the Heiress sighed.

At the sight of her teammates exasperation, Blake tilted her head at the passing foliage "...I know."

They sat in silence for a while, precious conversation having taken a bit out of both of them, until Weiss's eyes drew to the trees as well "See anything interesting."

"We're being followed." Blake mentioned

"What?!" Weiss stood straight immediately

"Since we left Yires, something's been following us." the Faunus turned back to Weiss "I can't tell what it is, its been keeping just out of sight and occasionally dissaparing but I can hear it moving from tree to tree. It could be a rather bold Grimm, but I can't be sure until I catch sight of it."

"How far behind is it?"

"Its been consistently trying to keep fifteen to twenty yards behind us."

"Do you think that it-"

"Hey!"

A yell from up ahead interrupted them, drawing their eyes to the front of the carriage. At the Driver's seat was Mr. Malts who was nervously glancing between the two beacon students and the wagon in front of them.

"Just keep an eye on it for now." Weiss turned back to Blake

"I wasn't planning on letting it try anything." the Faunus replied as the Heiress waked along the top of the covered wagon and knelt near the edge to speak to the Baker

"What's happening?" the heiress asked.

"Not quite sure," Malts said before nodding towards the wagon in front of them "Brix had some trouble with one of them White Fang Fellows."

"Ya damn right I did!"

Weiss looked past the two horses pulling their cart to the much more traditional cart ahead of them, packed in the back were the restrained White Fang members and a rather angry man with excessively wild hair.

"Caught the small one gnawing through her bindings!" Brix growled before raising his hand "Told her to knock it off and she bit me!"

"Wouldn't have bitten you if you didn't threaten to hit me!" the perpetrator yelled

"So pointing a finger is a threat of violence?!"

"Everything you humans do is a threat of violence." Another member grumbled

Brix looked as if he was physically restraining himself, until finally he turned back towards the Heiress and the Baker "Why exactly we have to haul these terrorists again."

"Listen, I can see your reservations." Malts spoke sympathetically "but you and your brother are literally the only ones with that much readily available space in your wagon."

"Yeah," Weiss supported before a thought suddenly struck her "wait... if you two didn't have that much to travel with anyway then why do you guys even have a wagon?"

"If we had a couple more weeks before this lot," Brix turned his glare to the White Fang members for a moment before turning back "decided to lead a gang of rampaging monsters into town, then we'd have been all set to go on the road making millions selling our wares. But lo and behold just guess what happened before we could get around to that?"

The Baker next to Weiss gave a small sigh, and when he saw her questioning look, he merely said "Those two have been talking about that plan for years, they never even got past the Wagon part."

"Hey! What are you suspiciously whispering to her about?" Brix asked

"Probably how to kill us without having to get her three million lien dress dirty." said one of the White Fang Members, prompting mocking laughter to erupt from the rest of them.

"Wonder how many innocent families her daddy threw out on the streets to get her that dress?" More laughter

"Maybe she and her sister turned a few tricks for his big shot colleagues to pay for it and all their fancy crap!"

The Heiress rolled her eyes as the other Terrorists began joining in on the new Jeer-a-Schnee game they seemed to take to immediately. As Malts looked over to her with a sympathetic shrug, the Heiress realized just how long this return trip would be...

...then promptly allowed Brix to tape the Extremists' mouths shut.

* * *

 **Vacuo-The Sandy Expanse**

Several forms trekked through the blazing desert, sun beating down on their heads as they traveled over dunes and through ruins towards their goal. At the head of the group was Tuka, who crested yet another dune before bringing a hand to his head and scanning over the environment.

"Hm, it appears we've found the remains of an old drilling station." the Berserker commented, the structure was definitely smaller than what he'd heard was possible for the Pinkskins of this world. Appearing similar in size to a two-story residence instead of the behemoths of technical ingenuity he'd heard of.

"Perhaps we may take shelter there for the time being, recuperate for a day and resume our travels after we've gone over our location."

"That sounds lovely," Zog said from behind him "But first can we talk about that sack you wanted me to carry?"

"You shield barers are trained to carry three times your weight," Tuka said with a sigh as he continued looking over the desolate station "I expect you not to find issue with such a small burden in comparison."

"Yeah well, I didn't really mind at first." the singer admitted "But it doubled in weight while we was walking and such."

"What?" The berserker turned towards the shield-barer in confusion, immediately catching sight of Uthug hanging on Zog's back "What do you think you're doing?"

Uthug immediately jerked in shock at being so easily discovered, but Zog seemed quite confused "Hn? Whatcha mean by that exactly?"

Tuka narrowed his eyes "Sorry, it would seem some pest has made your back its home." the Berserker commented as he glared at Uthug reaching to one of the Axes on his back "If you'd like, I could try swatting it off."

"Come on!" the Musket-wielder finally shouted, causing Zog to stumble in surprise "You're really gonna make me walk through this damned sand for this long?!"

"Uthug?!" Zog exclaimed as he regained his footing "What in Sauron's name are you-?"

"Quiet down fat boy," the warrior hissed as he poked Zog in the back of the head "eyes forward, don't want you takin' a tumble with me on 'ere."

"If we have to walk, it only seems fair that you suffer along with us." Tuka said as he folded his arms

"You two got like three feet on me each!" Uthug muttered before pointing to the back of the singer's head "And this one's trained to carry tons! One of you should be contributing their skills properly, so unless you enjoy the idea of doin' it..."

"Actually I rather enjoy the idea of lobbing off both your legs and leaving you out here for the sand to swallow." Tuka admitted "So how about you get back to walking before you won't be able to anymore, hm?"

Begrudgingly, the angry warrior climbed down from the shield-barer, straightening his tattered White-Fang uniform and hefting his stolen musket over his shoulder.

Tuka nodded "Well then, unless anyone else wishes to try my patience this day?"

Zog gave a questioning hum before shifting the sack on his back and glancing at the woman wrapped under his right arm "Hey lass, feel like given' him a go?"

When he only received nothing more than resentful glare, he looked back towards Tuka and nodded "All set!"

"Then we move," the Berserker responded before beginning the trek down the dune "come on."

As Zog and Uthug followed behind, the shorter warrior felt the need to continually voice his displeasure "Guh, this entire trip's just shrakh all around."

"Ya know," Zog drew his attention "it'd probably feel better if ya took off that hood."

"Wh-no!" Uthug practically growled before patting his free hand on his chest protectively "I won this fair and square killin' tarks, you probably just wanna steal it!"

"You mean like you did?" Tuka asked as they reached the base of the dune

That was enough to revive the warrior's anger "What was that?"

"Just came to mind that you and I served under Captain Ashgarn for years," the Berserker said as the station slowly drew closer "and in all that time I ain't seen you engage an enemy once."

"You don't know th-"

"And yet somehow you keep finding all these battle prizes? Just seems a bit suspicious."

At that Zog snapped his fingers "Oh!" he said before turning back towards Uthug "So you's a scavenger then!"

"No!" the Warrior barked before gesturing towards Tuka angrily "How dare you take this thick-headed shrakh's words to heart!"

"Not engaging in a direct battle and still claiming trophies, scavenger does sound far more apt."

"Just because you ain't seen me in action ain't my problem! You's probably too busy suckin' up to the captain to the notice the work I put in." Uthug huffed as he glanced away for a moment "What about the Ordeal? The caragors I've slain!?"

"Oh yes, because there's _no_ possible way to rig one of those." Tuka rolled his eyes as the station began looming over them.

"Lot of slander you feel like slingin' today I see." Uthug mumbled as the three Uruks stood before the old structure. The massive doors to the station were gone, probably removed by either scavengers or traveling Grimm. The main structure was metal all around, with the upper portions of the drill completely gone.

"Starving beasts probably had a field day with this place." Zog mumbled as he glanced about excitedly "Think there's any left inside waiting for us?

"This wasn't done by Grimm," Tuka stated before pointing towards where the upper parts of the structure previously were "too clean, Pinkskin machinery."

"So maybe there's some tarks in there," Uthug grunted before smirking and walking towards the gaping hole where the doors used to be "been a while since I killed a Pinkskin properly."

"You can't kill which you never fight." the Berserker commented

"Psh," Uthug turned towards them "just wait till somethin' else gets in our way! You'll see who the real fighter is!"

Tuka glanced behind him and let a grin spread across his face as his hands went to his axes "Seems like you're in luck then."

The warrior just gave him a questioning glance before turning back to the gaping hole to find himself staring into quite a number of red eyes. His mouth proceeded to drop as the massive form the eyes were attached to shifted inside the abandoned station.

* * *

 **The Vale Wilderness**

"They keep glaring at me."

Mr. Malts's eye shot up in question as Brix spoke, "Say what now?"

"The captives keep glaring daggers at me."

The baker sighed "Well they're just a bit agitated that they can't continue speaking ill of the huntresses, give them some time and I'm sure they'll find something else to glare at."

"Yeah about that," Brix jerked a thumb towards his brother, who was driving their particular carriage "I had a chat with Brine a while ago, he was reading the maps and saw that there was a much shorter route to Vale coming up."

"Through the old Talos Mining lot, yes." Malts confirmed

"But the guys from the cart ahead of us are saying that we're just passing it by!" Brix exclaimed before folding his arms "What's all that about?"

"Now Brix, you know that place was used by Grimm as a nest-"

"Yeah, but the Huntsmen cleared most of it up last year, we could cut four hours of travel into two hours nice and easy."

"The Grimm tore the place up," Malts said solemnly "the whole area's too hazardous to take a convoy of this size through."

"He's right."

The Baker and the Brother turned to Blake, who had decided to speak up "I don't like being out here as much as the next person, but there are too many civilians and precious cargo here to risk going through an old quarry that could collapse on us at anytime."

"But what if those things track us?" Brix asked "Do you honestly think the two of you could keep everyone in this convoy safe if that happened?"

Blake didn't in all honesty, if a sizeable force attacked them then the idea of keeping every individual safe was nigh impossible with just the two of them. If Ruby was up and zipping about then maybe, but as they were they could only hope that their luck kept up.

Malts seemed to sense her worried thoughts, intervening to save her from admitting to her troubles "Patience please, my boy." he said to Brix

"Don't call me that."

"Look, I'm just saying that concerning ourselves with things we have no control over is just going to leave us drained. Instead, we should focus on what we'll do when we get to the city, morale and such."

Blake raised an eyebrow at that suggestion, but Brix seemed to go for it. The craftsman smirked and jerked a thumb towards his brother "Brine's and I got a cheap plot of land there, we were gonna use it for a branching location but... it'll make a good home till we get a new shop up and running."

It hadn't been lost on Blake that the brothers seemed to have a lot of plans which they never followed through on. She wouldn't bring it up out of decency, but she couldn't help but think about how hard it'd be for them in the future if they kept up with that particular habit.

"Good to hear," Malts commented with a smile "My sister's been trying to get me to move in with her for years, guess now I have no choice really."

"Does she want you closer to the family, then?" Blake asked

"That's what she says, yes." the Baker nodded before turning to her with narrowed eyes "But in reality, she only wants into my recipe book. I know it to be true."

"Oh... so she's a baker too."

"She's a businesswoman, that's all." Malts said with a sigh as he turned back to the path before them, he was silent for a moment before piping up once more "So what about you girls, I take it there's quite the bit of activity awaiting you back at Vale."

Blake glanced towards the back of the cart, where Weiss had disappeared to check on Ruby yet again "That's an understatement."

The Faunus slowly turned back to the baker "Reporting what happened is going to be a nightmare alone."

"Good thing you've got a hearty pack of eyewitnesses here then." Malts said as he gestured to the carts ahead of them "Between us and those White Fang fellows you brought by, I mean."

"But its not just that." Blake insisted before taking a breath and nodding back towards the back of the cart "When Ruby gets up we'll need to hope she's got enough information that can help us locate my partner... in whatever state she may be in."

Malts frowned at the way she said that "Now look, I may not know much about warriors and fighting and such. But I do know Yang."

Blake glanced towards him as Malts turned to look at the nearby woods "She's too stubborn to let something keep her down for long. One time she and her sister came to Yires and found the Inn they planned to stay at had risen its prices while they were gone. Luckily there was still one place cheap enough for them to stay at, only problem was that paying for their stay would leave them near broke. They'd have literally no way to afford any of the things they'd come out for."

"Like your marble cake?" Blake interjected, to which Malts responded with a cheeky grin.

"Of course, delicious as it may be it was mighty hard to create. As such, as much as I wanted to, a momentary lowering of prices for the poor dears was out of the question. Oh, the sorrowful eyes the little redhead gave me nearly shattered me on the spot! Luckily, her sister caught wind of a bit of thievery troubles going on around town and had become set on claiming the bounty on the perpetrator and using the money to fund the rest of their trip."

"Oh?" Blake wasn't really that surprised

"Indeed, the two spent the entire day searching for the perp, and eventually found one of the younger boys to be the culprit."

"How'd they catch him?"

"Ruby spotted him slyly pickpocketing his way through a crowd, the young man had some form of semblance which let him slip in and out of pockets with ease. She seemed to be the only one who could spot him in the act, and soon after telling her sister the boy was apprehended in what might have been one of the greatest tackles I've ever seen a girl Yang's size ever commit."

"I take it they had a blast afterward then?" Blake asked, cat ears twitching within her bow as she heard the sound of the cart's back door opening, she turned and breathed easy as she saw Weiss begin climbing up while closing the door behind her.

"Oh that's an understatement." Malts laughed "It turns out our little thief was the son of the Inn's owner, and had been using his father's establishment to store his foul taken goods. Outraged at his son's crimes, the Owner cut the price for their stay in half in thanks. There was quite a party held for them, afterwards."

"For who?" Weiss asked as she stepped closer to them

"Oh, just hearing a story of Yang and Ruby's sisterly adventures." Blake commented as she nodded towards Malts and turned to face the Heiress "How's she doing?"

"Still fine," Weiss said with a bit of a pout before locking eyes with the cat Faunus "Is that thing-?"

"Still following us." Blake confirmed "It disappeared when you hopped in back, but came back a few minutes later."

"Bandits?" Malts asked

"Maybe," Weiss admitted with a shrug "we entertained the idea of it being an Uruk."

"Like those raiders?" Malts asked a bit more hesitantly

"Like them, yes." the heiress nodded "But until it gets closer it could be anything from Grimm to White Fang."

"We are about overdue for one of those monsters." The Baker admitted with a sigh

"Yeah," Blake said "I was expecting at least one Ursa or Beowolf wandering this path or close by at least."

"Perhaps the Bandits ran into the Grimm and ended up killing each other." Weiss said with a sigh "If only we were that lucky."

Their guessing was interrupted by the sound of muffled laughter, they turned to see Brix glaring at the sound's origin. Another one of the White Fang captives seemed to have found something incredibly funny, as he was currently doubled over with laughter. Brix glanced back to the huntresses with a questioning, prompting the two of them to share a look before Weiss sighed "Let's hear it."

Brix removed the gag from the Faunus, who coughed and immediately glared at them with a sick grin "I hope you two enjoyed chaining us up like always."

"Significant differences between those situations and the current one." Blake mumbled

He ignored her, "Because when those things catch up with us, I can take full consolation in the fact that a Schnee and a domesticated slave get to die with me."

Blake narrowed her eyes at the harsh jab, but kept silent as Weiss stepped forward a bit "Things? As in plural?"

"Yeah, those things'll probably mount your skull on something." the White Fang Grunt mumbled before sighing "I can only hope to live long enough to see it happen."

Weiss turned to Blake, who shrugged before nodding back in the direction of their distant pursuer "I've only been able to hear the movements of one."

"Oh yeah? Well someone who's spent as long as you have rolling over for humans would undoubtedly have lost most of her natural intuition I guess." the Grunt commented before taking a whiff of the air "You might hear one, but I've smelt at least one other keeping tabs from the other side occasionally, maybe three."

"Three?" Weiss muttered before placing a hand to her chin "Occasionally..."

"They may be what's been keeping bandits and Grimm off us." Blake offered, trying not to side-eye the Smirking Faunus in the carriage ahead of her "If those two move off course every time something gets near then-"

"But if they're trying to kill us why not let the Grimm or Bandits take shots at us then move in?" Surprisingly, it was an agitated Brix who brought up that point

"Maybe they don't wanna risk them killing us?"

"What?" the craftsmen said unconvinced "That sounds stupid."

Though it was odd, it was entirely possible. The reasoning behind such a method of pursuit could be a number of things. But before they could continue conversing on the nature of their pursuers, something came flying out of the nearby trees.

* * *

 **The Talos Mine**

Sitting in a small crevice of no more than 9 yards deep, separating the grassy lands between the Forests and mountains near Vale, was a handful of rickety buildings stationed near a large hole leading into the ground. Most of the buildings were ruined, mauled by either the vicious weathering of time or their previous Grimm inhabitants, except for one.

What had previously been a repository for metals taken from the mine, hardy and built to withstand, now rose above the wrecks which surrounded it. Though whatever ores were left had been taken by scavengers long before, and its roof had multiple gashes from serving as a post for several Nevermores to cling to for some time, it was this building which a single Uruk stumbled towards.

Dressed in a hood and a black cloth which covered his mouth and mostly hid his oddly darkened eyes, both articles of clothing seemed to have the tusks of animals sewn into them. With a strap of throwing knives and vials attached to his chest and matching dark trousers, this Uruk struggled to catch his breath as he stumbled through the double doors which were covered in claw marks. Past a series of tables, chairs, and even a caged little bird then up the stairs he went, reaching the third floor he immediately pushed his way into what may have once been an office. Now it served as the planning room for him and his fellow Prowlers, the desk having been shoved out the window and a regular table dragged up from the first floor.

Around said table were four chairs, and upon it laid a hand-sketched map of the surrounding area. The Uruk refrained from sitting despite his obvious exhaustion, placing both hands upon the table as his eyes went over the map. There were several rocks lying upon the map signifying key items, the main one being a series of rocks lying upon a trail.

He knew it was no longer in the same location, he had been gone for several hours killing Grimm. Ensuring that the filthy creatures would not be the ones to steal his target from him. He had left the pursuit of the convoy of tarks to his two underlings, hoping they'd somehow manage not to screw it up in the time it took him to work through the Beowolf pack and several Ursai.

The Humans hadn't chosen the path he'd expected, opting to go straight for the city instead of aim for one of the other villages instead. Despite leading the Prowlers, the Uruk was not as good at tracking things as his subordinates. He could kill anything that ever dare to step in his path of course, just needed his followers to point him in their direction. In exchange, he had to take care of literally everything else. Good as they may be at tracking, proper soldiers the Prowlers were not. If they weren't the only ones who stood with him he'd have killed them all ages ago just to be free of their incessant stupidity.

"Captain Gundza!"

The Uruk groaned as the unpleasantly familiar voice reached him. Turning, his gaze immediately settled on a scrawny Uruk in similar dark attire who stepped in through the window, similar in everything except for the fact that a White Fang Rifle was slung over his shoulder.

The new Uruk looked his captain up and down before stating "Oh, you're still in there I see."

"Dush," Gundza said with a sigh "weren't you tailing the convoy?

"Correct!" Dush said with a raised finger before reaching towards the strap on his chest and producing a rolled up parchment "Right here."

His Captain gave him a strange look before unrolling the parchment and reading it "Average height with pale skin and a hair length of about- What is this?"

"Well sir, seeing as I had been following our quarries for some time I figured it'd be most beneficial for me to properly analyze the target." the rifle-wielder said whilst placing a smug hand to his chest "I took the liberty of composing a list of qualities which-"

He was interrupted by the parchment flying in his face.

"I already know what she looks like, this is useless!" Gundza shouted before gesturing towards him "And where's Ogbur, you two were supposed to be diverting them here!"

At that Dush raised a finger as he slowly opened his mouth to speak "Now I have an answer for that... though I must insist you lower your temper first."

"No... No! There shouldn't be any answer! We went over this plan this morning!" Gundza roared before turning towards the map and moving rocks around "They come along this path here, Ogbur play dead, distract them, then you attack from this location here. Ogbur snatch villager and draw them here taking advantage of their common hero impulses. Then I kill the the dark one, bring the white-one bound and gagged to the Warchief and get welcomed back into his folds with open arms after killing all of you!"

He spun on Dush "It was foolproof!"

"Obviously not if this shrakh managed to muck it up like he 'as."

The two prowlers turned to see a larger prowler standing in the doorway, a small blade protruding from the side of his head.

"Ogbur! please tell me you managed to lead them here!" Gundza begged

"Well boss, turns out grabbin' a Pinkskin's harder to do without support from our ranged bastard 'ere." Ogbur said as he stepped inside and plopped down in one of the chairs "I throw myself in front of their cart see, waiting for the shot so I could go grab' one o' them Village folk. Never heard it, next thing I know I'm gettin' lifted out of the way by that dumb paleskin's magic, then tossed off the path like a sack o' Caragor Dung."

"And you didn't try apprehending one after that?" Dush asked

"Well gee, I suppose that should've been in the plan if ya wanted me to try it." Ogbur said with a sigh before jerking his thumb towards his captain "By the way, how long's he been in there?"

"So you're both telling me that in the time it took me to kill off more of our competition, you not only managed to fail both of your duties," Gunda began

"Hey, if he was there-" Ogbur began pointing towards Dush

"But also left the convoy completely unattended?!"

The larger Prowler paused for a moment before slowly shrugging "Well shite, guess I might've been able to not let that happen. Sorry boss. But ya gotta admit you was gone for some time now so..."

The two then watched their Captain raise both his clenched fists and smash the entire planning table in half out of pure rage.

Ogbur raised a finger "Uh, sir... I think we might need that-"

"What's the point of making all these plans if you worthless Shrakhs keep outright screwing them?!"

"Now sir," Dush attempted to intervene "I know it may seem as though I acted improperly, but I think I may have a new plan which could go along even better!"

"Damn it Dush I swear on the Dark Lord's name-!"

"Wait no," Ogbur halted him "I actually need's me a good laugh after gettin' tossed about, let's hear him out."

"We simply remember where she's heading- now follow me here!" the Rifle-Wielder insisted "-then we head back to the Tower."

"No."

"Tell the Warchief."

"No!"

"Beg for forgiveness."

"No!"

"And forget about this catching her on our own thing."

"By the Dark Lord, do you even hear yourself?!" Gundza pointed towards Ogbur "You, beat some sense into him!"

"Sorry Cap'n, Gimub's usually the one to take care o' that."

"Useless, all of you!"

"Sir, why do **we** specifically need to capture her, anyway?" Dush asked

"Not _we_ , ME!" Gundza pointed to himself "Catching her and bringing her in for judgment for her crime is just what I need for the Warchief to finally see I've changed my ways."

Ogbur raised an eyebrow as he finally decided to pull the small knife from his skull and toss it aside "No you haven't."

"I will not stand insubordination!"

"Sorry, its just that ya still as angry and self-centered as ya were back when we's got exiled and all."

"If it makes you feel better sir," Dush interjected "I've been noticing your rage has been more productive instead of destructive lately."

"It doesn't." Gundza stated with a hiss

"Then why not hop outta there for a moment?" Ogbur suggested while pointing towards his leader "Even the bookworm over there can agree that slidin' in like that makes ya far more pissy than usual."

"No!" the Captain barked before slowing down to take a deep breath and reaching down to pick up the map from the broken table "Let's... just... focus on the target. Now where should they be at this point?"

Dush clapped as he strolled over "Considering how long it took us to get here, I can deduce that they should be right...about..." the scrawny Prowler raised a finger and slowly brought it onto the map "Here!"

Gundza looked at the position indicated to him, glancing up to give them an incredulous look before nodding towards the map "Here?"

"Yes Captain, at the rate they were going it seems they should be nearing this position within the next twelve minutes."

Gundza's odd-looking eyes twitched at this revelation, and as his began seething his hands seemed to automatically shred the paper in his hands.

Ogbur quirked an eye as Dush backed up in fear "S-Sir?" the scrawny Uruk began as his Captain clenched his fists hard enough for his own nails to draw blood.

"That's within range of those damn towers!" Gundza yelled before placing his hands on both sides of his head

Dush and Ogbur gave each other confused glances as their leader rammed a fist into one of the nearby walls "Uh," the larger of the two began "and by towers you mean..?"

"Those signal towers! The CC-whatever the shrakh those damn Pinkskins call them!"

"Mhm," Ogbur slowly nodded "and that means-?"

"They have access to literally any assistance they require once they get a signal, and you two worthless shrakhs let them just stroll right there unmolested!"

"Well okay sir... I can see that you're about three steps from choking on all that rage," Ogbur began "so how about you step out of there? Then we can try and catch up with-"

"No!" Gundza hissed before pointing at the two of them "You two get to stay with Gimub, right here! Clean this damn place up while I hunt the Tark myself, seeing as you two incompetents hardly seem capable of clothing yourself let alone following a single Shrakhing order!"

"I don't think I've heard him use Shrakh this much in years." Ogbur said as Dush stepped forward

"Now Captain, I know that abandoning us may see like the logical route at the moment, but hunting tarks all on your own well... we all remember what happened when you tried hunting down that escaped slave."

"Don't your dare bring that up near me." Gundza grumbled as he grabbed hold of his shoulders and began pulling "I'm going after them on my own, and if I catch wind that any of you took one step out of this mine, then not even Sauron will be able to put you back together-Ack!"

At the end of sentence, Gundza's body was flung to the ground as something pulled itself out of it. The thing wasted no time in angrily stomping out of the room as the Uruk on the ground writhed. Ogbur took a step towards the downed Uruk as Dush calmed himself down after their leader's outburst.

"Oi! Gimub, you okay there?" the larger Uruk asked

"Hehe," the writhing Uruk chuckled in a dazed manner "Cappie was inside me!"

"Hm," Ogbur turned towards Dush "what're the odds that long use o' the Cappie's thingie got some kind of ill effects?"

"I hope the Captain sees fit to forgive me once he's completed his task."

"Yeah maybe you could suck him off a bit more, see if that helps." Ogbur sighed before kicking Gimub, "Get up, Captain's plannin' on leavin' us here and I need ya help convincin' him out of it."

"All up inside me like a funny little rodent!"

"Yeah, he was an idiot before but at least he was a legible idiot." the large prowler glanced back to the scrawny one "Hey, mind usin' them fancy words to help talk the boss outta this?"

"Can't talk me outta nothing!" came Gundza's voice as the odd looking figure came back holding a bird cage "Leaving you shrakhs behind was the best idea I've had since we got here!"

"Sir!" Dush cried out as his Captain made his way towards the window "Let me just say that I've already got ideas for the apology letter I plan on dictating."

"Dictate this! Dictate that! Dictate humor with the blood of a cat!" Gimub laughed

Gundza's strange form stepped towards the window and reached for the cage door, then paused before pointing towards his followers "Not a STEP, from this place!"

And with that he reached into the cage.

As Ogbur helped his still-laughing comrade from the ground, he jerked his head towards the sound of the cage colliding with the floor. He turned to see the bird formerly housed within now perched within the broken window. It turned towards them with an odd look in its beady eyes before violently chirping at them and taking off. The three Prowlers watched it disappear in the distance.

* * *

 **Vacuo- Abandoned Drilling Station**

Uthug screamed as he slid out of the way of another pincer swipe, the Deathstalker's mandibles snapping as its attention was once again captured by Tuka. The Berserker blinked onto the creature's head, slashing his axes across its bone carapace before blinking away as its tail swiped at him. The tip grazed its head, eliciting more agitated mandible clicking as the Grimm felt more rounds impact against its frame.

Now at a safer distance, Uthug had tried his luck with the musket, finding its bullets infuriatingly ineffective against the creature's tough hide.

"What in Sauron's name are you doing!?"

Uthug swallowed his nerves and glanced up at Tuka, who had blinked to the roof of the station and was angrily shouting at him.

"This stupid thing's worthless!" Uthug grumbled as he fired at the Deathstalker, which now began crawling its way towards him

"Aim for a weak point!" the Berserker shouted "Its got glowing targets for eyes damn it!"

"Not my fault I didn't get enough practice in with this thing!" the Warrior grunted as he stood and turned to run as the beast closed in.

Before he could get out of range, its yellow stinger suddenly shot forwards. Uthug glanced back just in time to wince at the sound of the stinger impacting with wood. Zog had worked his way in between the two and caught the stinger mid lunge. The appendage was stuck in his shield, and the Singer laughed to himself as he fought to keep his shield steady as the appendage wiggled around trying to free itself.

As the Deathstalker yanked its tail back, finally freeing it from the Singer's shield, Zog quickly jerked forward and plunged the tip of his spear in one of its eyes .

"Like that?" he asked his comrades before the Deathstalker swung its pincer and batted the defender off his feet. Though his Aura saved him from the brunt of the attack, he still struggled to get up as the Grimm closed in. Before it could keep the pressure on him, however, Tuka blinked in front of it and raked one of his axes through two more of its eyes before blinking to its tail.

As the Grimm writhed in either pain or anger, the Berserker leaped from the tail and smashed his axes on its head once more. Though still not enough to puncture its armor, the force alone seemed to stun it. Tuka leaped off as the beast swung its deadly appendages in a mad fury.

He landed next to Zog, who was still struggling to regain his breath after that battering he'd taken. Uthug skidded to a halt beside them, also panting.

"Both of you are disgustingly out of shape." the axe-wielder muttered

"Sorry, spent most'a my time standin' in one place guarding stuff back in Mordor." Zog said as he stretched

"Yeah!" Uthug agreed

"You're a warrior, you don't have an excuse." Tuka said as he stood straight and watched the beast steady itself

Uthug grumbled, but ultimately decided to prioritize "So, how we do this without a bunch of worms to distract it?"

"Simple, go be loud and distracting. Shouldn't be hard for you." the Berserker replied instantly before glancing at Zog "You make sure it doesn't bisect him immediately, both of you take out as many of the beast's eyes as possible."

"How dare-!"

"Gotcha!"

"All on the same page, good, because its about to take another swing at us."

The two Uruks regained their battle stances as Tuka blinked away once more, Uthug scrambled back as the Deathstalker swiped at them. Zog raised his shield, absorbing most of the blow and only getting shoved aside as the Deathstalker's tail flew towards Uthug once again. It didn't reach its target, as Tuka suddenly blinked on top of the stinger mid-attack and began running along it whilst slashing the appendage repeatedly.

The Deathstalker roared and swung its tail to the side to dislodge the Berserker, only for him to blink away before he could lose his footing. The Tail was halted in its swing by a spear which punctured straight through the appendage as Zog drove it in as far as he could. The Deathstalker raised its claw to stab him whilst he tried extracting his spear, only for Uthug to crouch under the sharp limb and jab the barrel of his rifle into another eye before pulling the trigger. He jumped to the side just as the Grimm slammed its pincer back down, then instead violently swung it to dislodge Zog. The defender lost hold of his spear as he tumbled away, the weapon remaining in the beast's tail as it turned on the dazed Uruk.

Uthug turned to look as Tuka's guerilla tactics continued, frowning as he watched the Berserker slice out the last few eyes with his axes as Zog stumbled out of the beast's range. Blinking beside the warrior, Tuka grumbled as he watched the now blind beast flail wildly in Zog's direction.

"Okay, thing's blind." Uthug muttered "But we don't have anything capable of piercing that armor!"

"Shut up, I'm thinking."

"We can't just leave it, it could destroy the station in this state! I'd like a semi-decent roof over my head for Sauron's sakes!"

In the midst of the Warrior's complaining, Tuka was suddenly hit with a revelation. Standing tall once more, he turned towards Uthug "Just shut up and draw its attention!"  
The warrior just watched as Tuka blinked away to aid Zog, then groaned as he glanced to the side of the station. There lay both the human Zog captured, and that sack Tuka seemed adamant on hauling with him, along with the few edibles they had picked up along the way. They had tossed the possessions there once the beast had attacked, and now Uthug considered how quickly he could grab the tark and the food before hightailing it out of this seemingly unwinnable situation.

Before he could make up his mind his attention was once more drawn towards the monster, who was skittering along the sand towards Tuka. The Berserker glared at him in what was obviously a silent demand for him to start shooting. Swallowing his next angry comment, Uthug hefted his musket and began firing as Tuka blinked out of sight. The blinded Grimm drew closer to the source of the rounds, and as Uthug prepared to run once more he felt a pair of arms heft him up. Head spinning around to see Zog's casual grin, Uthug cried out in annoyance as the defender swung him around and launched him into the gaping hole of the station.

Skidding along the ground, the warrior groaned as he stumbled to his feet whilst shooting a glare back at the singer. Zog gave him a thumbs up before backing out of the way...

...letting the blinded deathstalker come thrashing into the gaping hole after him.

The warrior's black heart leaped into his throat as he realized that his so-called comrades had ousted him, with the beast covering the exit it would get its claws on him eventually. The significance of that little thumbs up became more insulting as Uthug backed across the trashed floor of the station towards the opposing wall, hoping that he could survive if he put enough distance between himself and the monster.

The station looked even more ruined on the inside, what with most of the machinery having been removed save for a few catwalks and the remains of what seemed to be a cargo lift designed to transport any blockage that would be removed for the drill to continue digging hanging above. With the drill gone and the hole it formerly dug through covered, the loader hung there uselessly like the rest of the place. Besides the loader, there was a maintenance hatch off to the side, but the handle seemed to have been completely removed. Movement from above caught Uthug's eye, and he could see Tuka linking across upper catwalks hacking away at metal cords.

Distracted, his feet kicked a piece of broken metal, the Deathstalker's mandibles immediately turned in his direction. Giving a small yelp of fear, Uthug lunged back as the Grimm approached at a renewed pace. His back soon pressed against the wall, and he frantically searched for an exit as the pincers came down towards him. Almost immediately the loader detached from the ceiling and crashed into the wounded Deathstalker's head, crushing it and sending dark blood spraying from its body.

Uthug stayed frozen, unwilling to risk moving even after getting sprayed by the creature's blood. He had gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, and only after several seconds went by did he begin to slowly open them. The Deathstalker wasn't dead... yet, but with the amount of damage it had sustained Uthug was positive that it wouldn't last long. It slowly lifted one of its claws and struggled to bring it closer to the Warrior.

"Okay," Tuka suddenly blinked atop the fallen loader with his axes ready "One of you lugs help me find out where to cut this thing."

"Y-You guys-" Uthug began before being heavily patted on the back by Zog

"Nice job out there, made quite the usefull little piece of bait, eh?"

Uthug's eyes slowly narrowed in fury "Y-you tried t-to-"

"If we can get it to disappear before nightfall we can probably set up a campfire for the night." Tuka muttered before turning towards the other two Uruks "Zog, go grab the tark and the sack. Get 'em in here before-"

"GRETCHEN!"

The Uruks paused, with even Uthug biting down on his mounting fury as they all turned towards the sound of the voice. The hatch he'd spotted earlier was open, and popping out of it was an Uruk no less. Light green-skinned with red trousers and a single armor vest, this bald Uruk's green eyes were widened to nearly comical proportions as he looked on in horror.

"Wait a sec." Zog narrowed his eyes as the green-eyed Uruk scrambled out of the hatch and raced towards the Deathstalker.

"Oh Gretchie, baby what'd they do to you!?" he said with several sniffles as he wrapped his arms around the Deaqthstalker's twitching head and squeezed "Stay with me darlin' please! Don't scurry into the light you beautiful beastie!"

The three other Uruks watched on with mixed feelings "Is..." Uthug jerked a thumb to the sickeningly tender moment "Is anyone else seeing this?"

"Oi lads," Zog leaned towards the other two without taking his eye of the grieving Uruk "I think that's Borgu the Poet."

"Ugh," the musket-wielder rolled his eyes "last thing we need is another damned lyricist."

"Borgu!" Tuka called out to the red-themed Uruk "What in the dark lord's name are you doing?!"

"Stop crying and tell us why ya here ya damned fool!" Uthug shouted as well

"hush!" Borgu turned to raise a finger to silence them "You monsters hurt my dearest Gretchen, you should all feel ashamed of yourselves!"

Before they could question his sanity, a noise none of them were expecting began. It almost sounded like... like one of them stringed tark instruments playin' in the background. Immediately they searched for whoever it was playing it, but a glance over the surroundings revealed the four of them and the dying Grimm to be the only occupants of the ruined station. In fact, Borgu seemed to be the only one unaffected by the inexplicable tune, instead opting to comfortingly rub the deathstalker's head and mutter encouraging words to it.

As he did so, Zog noticed the Grimm raising the claw closest to Borgu and immediately stepped forward to pick the smaller poet up and back up as the creature weakly stabbed where he previously stood.

"No no darling!" Borgu insisted "Save ya strength!"

"That beast just tried to kill you." Tuka pointed out

"Its not her fault! Its just how she says hello."

As the Poet struggled to justify the Grimm's craving for his death, the beast in question began to stop moving. Eyes jerking back to 'Gretchen', Borgu watched in voiceless misery as the Grimm began to dissipate into black mist.

"No." Borgu began, as that ethereal instrument soon became a miserable symphony.

"Zog," Tuka massaged his eyes, the sheer volume of the music grating on his nerves "just go grab that stuff already."

"No!" Borgu continued as the unseen music rose

"By the Dark Lord, what is that!?" Uthug shouted as he covered his ears "I hate Tark music, I hate it, I hate it I-!"

"NOOOOO!"

* * *

 **Vale-Beacon Academy**

"Guys?"

The small, exhausted voice caused both Weiss and Blake to immediately turn from the doctor towards the occupied bed. Ruby was awake, or at least not unconscious despite how tired she looked.

Her two teammates were at her side in an instant "Ruby!" Weiss exclaimed before tempering her excitement and letting her face shft into one of concern "How do you feel?"

"... Like a...whack-a-mole game...played by Nora." The young huntress said slowly as she fought to keep her eyes open

Besides the random corpse they encountered on the path, the procession back to the City of Vale was surprisingly uneventful. Once within range of the CCT Weiss had taken the liberty of calling Beacon's Medical Staff, Ruby had almost woken up during the journey, but for the most part she had only gotten somewhat stable. Once reaching the city, the two huntresses had made a point to thank the Villagers of Yires. They helped turn in the White Fang Grunts for detainment and questioning before splitting off to take a transport ship with Ruby back to the Academy.

"Try not to move too much," Blake said to her leader as the smaller girl shifted her head to look at them.

"I-Is Yang...with you?" Ruby asked

Weiss and Blake glanced to one another before the Heiress slowly shook her head.

Ruby turned back to the ceiling as she let it sink in "Oh... then I guess...he..."

Her eyes began closing, and soon the red-head had to struggle a bit to keep them open.

"Yeah, your friend's aura got blown out pretty violently." the doctor said as a nurse walked over and showed him a clipboard "She'll be fine soon enough but she'll need some proper aura treatment before she can get out of here, so get comfy Miss Rose."

"You... got it." Ruby sighed before letting her eyes droop closed.

"But like I said, she should be back up and running soon enough." The doctor then turned on the two huntresses "You two on the other hand need to get prepared.

"Prepared?" Blake questioned, eyes shifting a bit before settling back on him "You mean for Headmaster Ozpin?"

The Doctor nodded and rubbed the back of his neck "Yes, the Headmaster's been really busy lately, seems like every other day someone's calling on him for one thing or another. But ever since I've known him I've not seen many instances where he wasn't there for a student after something like this. He'll be calling on you eventually, I recommend taking time to rest and think on what you two will be telling him once he does."

After that, the two found themselves making the trek back to their dorm

"We just say what happened," Blake insisted "tell them everything, apologize for... for letting that happen to Ruby and Yang then..."

Blake paused a bit longer at this one, prompting the heiress to finish for her.

"Then we can offer our complete assistance in getting her back, I know." Weiss glanced to the side at a pair of passing students.

Blake sighed, "If she's still... around... then yeah, we need to do that. But let's not lose track of what the main issue should be here."

"The Uruks?"

Blake nodded, but before she could follow up they were both halted by the sound of Weiss's scroll chiming. Not expecting a call so soon, the two were stunned for a moment before the Schnee retrieved the device to see who was calling her. Seeing a familiar name, she gave a small breath before turning towards her faunus teammate.

"Its just Jaune." she said before answering "Hello?"

"Weiss?" she heard the boy say in a worried tone "Oh my god, we just heard you got back from your trip! We were planning on getting the teams back together at first for a welcome back party but then I just got off a call with Fox and he said that Ruby's in the infirmary and-and Yang's not with you-!"

"Jaune, calm down." Weiss insisted "Things have been a little hectic for us in the past few days, we're kind of trying to-"

She paused as she heard something smashing in the background, Blake evidently heard it as well as the Faunus gave her a questioning look.

"Guys please! I'm kinda in the middle of this- gah!"

"You can't beat me!" they could hear Nora yell in the background "Seven year champion going for eight!"

The Faunus and the Heiress looked at the scroll for a moment before Jaune's voice returned "Sorry, I rushed to call you guys after speaking with Fox, things have been kinda hectic here as well while you guys have been gone."

Weiss narrowed her eyes "Hectic in what way?"

"Well, your friend from Vacuo has been pretty active since he showed up. Now I'll admit that when I first saw him I was a little skeptical, but now I can legitimately see why you guys hang out with this guy."

"Friend from Vacuo?" Weiss turned towards Blake for a moment before looking back at the scroll "You mean Sun?"

"What?" Jaune seemed a bit confused for a second "No no the other guy! Showed up a few days ago for a visit and-"

"Nora!" Ren culd be heard in the background as the sound of more things falling over cut off Jaune "You both need to stop before something-!"

"Jaune look out!" Pyrrha's voice yelled out before Jaune's yelp of surprise ended the call.

Blake and Weiss gave concerned looks to one another before they doubled their speed to reach their dorms. Several minutes later they spotted Jaune and Pyrrah standing outside of Team JNPR's room, Jaune was doubled over and panting as Pyrrha alternated from patting him on the back to peeking into their room.

"Jaune!" Weiss got the blonde's attention as the two approached

"You got cut off in the middle of the conversation," Blake said as they slowed to a stop "are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah no I'm fine." Jaune said as he caught his breath, "It was a bit touch and go in there but Pyrrha pulled me out before things could get bad."

"What?" the Faunus glanced towards the door "What exactly is happening in there?"

"It's nothing...toooo serious, I think?" he said unsure before turning back to Pyrrha "Hey, how serious does it look in there?"

"I'm not quite sure," the Champion peaked inside once more "I believe that depends on whether or not Ren can keep them from breaking another bed."

"Yeah," Jaune turned back to the two members of Team RWBY "okay long story short that friend of yours and Nora got kinda competitive lately so..."

Before Jaune could finish Pyrrha tensed and leaped back from the door just before it slammed open, knocking Jaune of his feet and causing the two RWBY members to back up as he fell forward before them.

"Good battle there," Nora's voice could be heard coming from within the room "a viscious one for the next generations to speak of for centuries!"

"Sorry I couldn't try a wee bit harder, maybe next time we'll actually have a winner!" A giddy, uncannily familiar voice followed.

Both the Heiress and the Faunus had both of their eyes glued to the massive figure which stepped from Team JNPR's room, covered head to toe in thick clothing which concealed everything but the eyes visible inside his hood, the figure blinked at them before smiling under the various wrappings which concealed his facial features from view.

But even with his appearance hidden, the voice was more than enough to make both of their eyes widen in disbelief.

"Oh hey guys, didn't think you'd be back from ya trip yet!" Krimp said to them as he gave a hearty laugh and gestured towards them with a gloved hand "How'd that go by the way?"

* * *

 **AN: This took far longer than I feel comfortable with, seeing as I had the beginning and the end figured out pretty much since the last chapter was posted. It probably had something to do with technical issues forcing me to restart halfway through and redo the whole thing. But I can't really excuse myself for something like this. Hopefully I can get out the next chapter within a week or two and not have to suffer a delay like this again.**

 **Now that that's outta the way, guess I'll take about some other thing. The Prowlers were a certain category of Uruk Captain that may appear in-game seemingly randomly, now I've encountered many over my time playing but only three really stood out to me. And they stood out due to sheer consistency. Once those three showed up they'd be the only captains in the entire area to ambush me, which they did insanely frequently. They'd often ambush together too, with one of them showing up only for the other two to appear while fighting him. Besides that they weren't much of a problem, even together they were only slightly more challenging than regular Uruks, just annoyingly frequent enemies who had to be taken down multiple times.**

 **But they were the ones that eventually led me to Gundza, who's in an entirely different ball park. But that's a story for another time.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoy, any and all criticisms positive or negative are welcomed in full so leave a review if you are so inclined to do. Follow or Favorite at your leisure and I will see you all in the next installment of The Dreamer Gate.**

 **Next Chapter: The Warmonger**


	6. Chapter 6: The Warmonger

**Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of The Rings, the Middle-Earth universe, Shadow of Mordor or RWBY.**

 **This work will contain moments of intense violence, dark and dirty humor, and canonical divergences.**

* * *

 **The Warmonger**

"Can I at least walk? This floor isn't exactly the most comfortable thing."

Yang couldn't see, the cloth tied so tightly around her face that it dug in at places. If she had proper use of her hands she would tear it off first, but alas her hands and feet were bound, and her captor was currently dragging her along the ground by the cuffs around her wrists in quite the uncomfortable manner.

"I would've let you walk here, Lady." she heard the one pulling her say nonchalantly "But last time I did that ya socked one of my guys in the jaw, so consider this your penalty."

She couldn't deny that the moment she found herself conscious enough for it, her first instinct was to swing at the nearest Uruk voice she could... but still!

"Penalty? Oh I'll show you a penalty!"

"Jeez, do you ever stop talking? Kinda giving me a headache here."

"I'll give you more than a headache after I get out of these things."

And so this back and forth went on for some time until finally her captor dropped her unceremoniously on the ground. She immediately tried getting to her feet, struggling with the bindings as she did so. She couldn't see her captor, but could guess from the sound of a heavy door swinging closed that he had put a risky amount of space between them. Once in a sitting position, her bound wrists flew up to her face and pried off the cloth, almost immediately making her flinch back from the unexpected brightness.

They were underground somewhere, if the cave walls and floor were any indication, but it was by no means naturally occurring. The rock floor had been flattened sometime previously, and there were a series of lights jury rigged high on the walls. There were several thin columns of stone holding up the stone above, presumably left there by whoever dug this place out in the first place.

The sound of movement drew her gaze back to the wooden door, or more importantly the single Uruk who stood between her and that door. Covered in that white and blue body paint, blue trousers, torn blue cloth wrapped around his neck like a scarf, and an odd metal helmet which he was currently removing, he stood out way too much from the Uruks she'd fought in the past week. With Bubol it was because of his perverted madness and generally disgusting appearance, with Krimp it had been due to his odd mannerisms and sheer tankiness. This guy was distracting by design alone...

...well that and his oddly human appearance.

Yang had to do a double take at first, because he just had too many humanoid facial features. Besides the two large jagged teeth that sprouted from either side of his lower jaw, she'd nearly mistaken him for a regular bald guy.

"So, in case you forgot... Name's Krosh." he said casually as he tossed his helmet to the side and let it skid along the ground as he patted his chest "Krosh the Warmonger officially but just saying Krosh is nice and simple."

His manner of speech too, Yang blinked again as Krosh stepped forward "You-"

"Sound like one of you?" the Uruk rolled his eyes as he reached into the pocket of his trousers "Yeah, been getting that a lot since we showed up here, not really important though."

He pulled out a key and tossed it to her, she stared at it for a moment before looking back at him. He nodded towards her cuffs and folded his arms with an expectant expression.

"What are you-?"

"Thought you might want them off."

Cautious of some type of ploy, Yang inched towards the key before swiping it and backing up. When Krosh just gave a bored yawn, she tested it to find that his words were true, after letting the cuffs on her wrists and ankles clatter to the ground, Krosh spoke up again.

"Good, now seeing as I purchased you and were told you could fight, I need you to beat the piss out of some people."

"I'd rather do that to you, buddy." Yang said with a hint of spite as she stood tall, Krosh was just a bit under her height, allowing her to glare straight into his casual expression as she cracked her knuckles.

"I know." he said with a simple shrug before gesturing towards her "But you won't."

Yang blinked at him before balling her hands into her fists "Is that a challenge?"

"No," he shrugged "just a fact. But before you get all pissy, don't you want to know what I need you to fight for?"

"Actually no," Yang muttered as she started walking towards him "I think I'd rather walk out of here right now, preferably after paying you back for the less-than-comfortable ride here."

Krosh gave a small hum of acknowledgement before giving her a humored grin "If you say so, lady."

The Warmonger unfolded his arms and stretched as the huntress stepped towards him, stopping suddenly as her hand shot towards his unguarded throat.

He slapped her hand out of the way.

Yang had enough time to blink before his arm swung back and backhanded her with enough force to send her stumbling away.

"Hey lady!" she heard called out as she massaged her cheek and looked back at Krosh angrily, watching him adopt a half-assed battle stance and slowly shift from one foot to the other "I was planning on training you myself for that fight you're going into, so this is pretty much where things were going one way or another."

He paused in his movements to clap his hands together "So here's how its going to go, lady." he nodded back towards the door "That's unlocked, all you need to do is get to it and fly free or whatever. But I'm going to be as honest as I can here, you're not getting to it."

"My name...is Yang." the blonde growled towards him as she stood once more and adopted a proper combat stance

"Yeah well," Krosh said with another casual shrug "I only remember the names of things that are useful, so we'll just call you Lady for now."

* * *

 _ **~The City of Vale, several days ago~**_

 _"Scuse me!"_

 _The two young girls paused in their walking, turning only to flinch as they saw the figure who had spoken to them. The giant form was covered head to toe in heavy clothing, the only indicator of who was underneath being the odd but definitively male voice which came from within._

 _"Sorry lassies, just wonderin' if you could point me in the direction of this place?"_

 _The giant offered a single piece of paper, on which the words_ 'Bacon Acadumy' _were shoddily scrawled._

 _One of the girls raised her glasses to give a strange look at the paper, then pointed towards it "This... is supposed to say Beacon, right?"_

 _The giant nodded enthusiastically, excited at the prospect of finally receiving an answer._

 _The girl smirked as she lowered her glasses and pointed off to the side. Confused, the giant followed her finger towards Beacon's massive and easily visible form which rose on a cliff in the distance._

 _"That's Beacon?!" he exclaimed "I thought's that was where ya fancy folk lived!"_

 _"How many people did you ask?" the girl glanced back towards him "I'm pretty sure most people here know where Beacon is. In fact, I don't know anyone anywhere who wouldn't know where a single one of the combat schools were."_

 _"Well lots of the folk I asked went and ran away from me when I would ask where the Huntsmen came from." the giant sighed as he glanced down at his misspelled note "One of them yelled this at me while he was runnin' so I figured if I found out where this place was I'd get me answer."_

 _"Oh," the other girl finally spoke up, initial fear of the giant's frame changing to sympathy at his story "not one person tried to help you?"_

 _When the giant shook his head in the negative, it seemed to make the girl's eyes lower in pity._

 _"I'm sorry to hear that," she muttered before looking back up at him "if it makes you feel any better, I can kinda relate."_

 _"Really?" the giant tilted his head in confusion_

 _"Yeah, I can safely say Vel's had problems in the past." the Glasses girl patted her friend on the shoulder supportively._

 _"But why?" the strange man asked as he scratched his head "She ain't big and scary like I am."_

 _The thought of her being_ 'big and scary' _made the girls hold back some laughter, but Vel stepped forward "No, it was more because of... you know 'these'"_

 _She shook the strange appendages which sprouted from the top of her head, making the giant's face take on even more of a confused look._

 _"Why though?" he asked "Those things ain't scary either!"_

 _"Well I'm happy to hear you say that," she said before looking away "but they are to some people."_

 _Seeing her companion's downtrodden expression, the girl in glasses changed the subject "So, what exactly did you need at Beacon anyway?"_

 _"Friends!" the gaint said without hesitation_

 _She raised an eyebrow "Friends?"_

 _"Yep! Met a couple of good pals who say they went there." The giant sighed as happy memories began running through his mind "Ain't got many friends of me own back home, figured it'd be easier here!"_

 _The girl with the appendages tilted her head to the side "Is that because of the whole big and scary thing?"_

 _"Nah, me brothers love bein' all big and scary, made funna' me for actin' all kindly and such." He scratched his cheek at the unpleasant thought "Me big brother himself kicked me out quite a while ago."_

 _"That's terrible!"_

 _"But I don' blame 'em at all!" the giant said quickly "I ain't really up to their standards after all, too friendly for their tastes."_

 _"Well then Mr..?" The girl in glasses egged him for his name_

 _"Oh! Name's Krimp, it's actually a bit longer but I like Krimp!"_

 _"Well Krimp, my name's Coco. And you can consider us pals if you plan on sticking around Vale for long."_

 _"Really?"_

 _"Yeah, you seem like a pretty cool guy. But me and Vel got people waiting for us, so if we see you again maybe we can hang out."_

 _The giant was speechless, only able to wave goodbye to his new friends as they continued walking to their prior engagement. Beneath the scarf wrapped around his mouth was a massive grin, and even the looks other bystanders gave him did nothing to deter the sense of joy he felt at that moment._

"And then I hopped on a ship and came over!" Krimp finished as he placed his hands on his hips "And that's the story of how I came to Beacon!"

"That literally answered not one of my questions." Weiss deadpanned

The disguised Uruk tilted his head to the side with a sad look in his eyes. He briefly glanced back at Blake, who had positioned herself at the door and kept her watchful gaze leveled on him, then turned back to the heiress"Whatdya mean, friend?"

"And don't call me that!" Weiss insisted "I am not your friend!"

After Krimp's unexpected reveal, the two huntresses had ushered him into their room and away from the suddenly concerned eyes of their fellow classmates. They'd had to ask him to do it, neither of them had the sheer strength necessary to force him anywhere. Thankfully, he'd been as compliant as he was since they'd last encountered him, sans the tedious battle, following their orders with a smile despite the worried looks the confused members of Team JNPR had sent towards him. After ensuring their dorm room was properly locked, they had immediately sat him down and demanded Krimp tell them how he got to Beacon. His response was less than informative.

Weiss had had enough of him. The sheer refusal to answer her questions in a manner that was actually enlightening coupled with that annoyingly persistent insisitence that they were no less than the greatest of companions had eaten at her since they'd first met him. In the woods they'd been far too preoccupied with Bubol for her to have to deal with him long, but now? Not only did he imply he'd just magically appeared in Vale not a day after they'd broken his arm, which he'd also somehow completely recovered from, but he's also been gallivanting around as if there wasn't a single thing wrong with him being there. Unacceptable!

"I just need to know how you did it for Pete's sakes!"

"Is Pete another one of ya friends?" Krimp tilted his head to the side with a smile "I'd love to meet him!"

"It was a meta-"

Krimp raised a finger with a smile "I've met tons of folk since I got 'ere, but it don't mean I'm tired of new ones!"

"Just listen for one second and-!"

"Why ya want me to listen for one second?" the Uruk asked "Wouldn't ya want me ta listen to the whole thing?"

"Blake please," Weiss turned on her Faunus with a look of desperate anger in her eyes "I don't think I can take much more of this idiocy."

Blake nodded with a sympathetic look before steeling her gaze and "Krimp, exactly how many people have you talked to since you got here?"

Her worries were similar to Weiss's, though more focused on what the Uruk had been doing in their absence. How he arrived was a puzzling mystery for now, but that was no more initially concerning than what his actions were. He'd had enough time to do who knows what, an Uruk hidden amongst the City of Vale able to blend in seemingly uncontested, the thought alone was enough to make her mind race with all the people he could've hurt in that time.

"Uh," the Uruk scratched his head as he thought "what's one-hundred minus three?"

"Ninety-seven!?" Weiss exclaimed

"Now calm down there buddy, it was probably more. Me math skills are a bit dodgy, some o' ya friends been helpin me with 'at though!"

Weiss gritted her teeth, anger clearly evident in her expression "We just got back after a trek through the wilderness, its physically impossible you've been here for days unless you have a semblance that lets you teleport!"

"Nah," Krimp gave another dismissive wave "my magic thingie's way cooler than that! Jaune said so!"

Weiss made a mental note to interrogate the young Arc on that, but for now "So what is it then?"

Krimp took a minute to think "Wait, I actually discovered that on my trip with Jaune and Cardin's boys!"

Weiss and Blake immediately shared a questioning look as Krimp clapped his hands together.

"You guys ain't seen my Semblie thingie, 'ave ya?" Krimp chuckled before patting himself down "Well's let me show ya right quick, just need to find-aha!"

The giant produced a pen and lifted it in front of his face, then he squinted... really hard. After a while nothing happened, Blake and Weiss turned to look at each other as Krimp started making audible grunts of effort whilst staring holes into the pen. Finally, after a full sixty seconds of nothing he released the pen.

And it didn't fall.

Krimp's breathing was heavy, eyes glued on the writing utensil that floated before him.

"T-ta da!" he exclaimed with a strain in his voice

Weiss narrowed her eyes at the very painful sounds of effort Krimp made as he desperately tried to keep the pen afloat.

"W-wait that's not just it!" Krimp raised a finger and poked the pen, and slowly it began rotating on the tip of his finger "A-Awesome, ain't I-it?!"

"And...that's it?" Weiss asked in a dumbfounded manner

Krimp suddenly gulped down a massive amount of air as the pen fell to the ground, the uncomfortable sounds of grunts now replaced with the uncomfortable sounds of hearing someone nearly nine times your body weight struggle to catch their breath. Despite this, Krimp's smile never seemed to lessen in the slightest, the pathetic nature of his semblance seemingly lost on him as he beamed with pride.

"I saved one of me friend's drinks with that power!" Krimp gloated before clapping "Oh just think of the other ways I can help my friends with it!"

Blake sighed "Look... just tell us what type of things you've been doing around here, and try to stick to important stuff, please?"

"Gotcha!"

"Great," Weiss took a steadying breath "We might finally be able to get something of worth from-"

"So I met Jaune not long after the ship ride-"

"Oh for-!"

* * *

 _ **~Vacuo: Uruk Shantytown~**_

Maku and Ishga turned around another shoddily built structure on their way to the next place Tarz wanted them to set up a Dreamer Gate. He'd been trying to see just how distance might affect the strange red portals.

"Why are we doing this a third time?" Ishga complained as they passed by a group of Uruks gambling around a wooden barrel "We already set up two, why does he want us to go all the way to the edge of this place?"

"Ain't it a law or something?" Maku asked as he stepped over an Uruk who'd drunken himself unconscious, "Ratlug usually does his tests three times before moving on, I had always assumed smarter Uruks just had a fascination with the number three, tarks too for that matter. Even some of them Elven folk had a lot of threes in their practices."

"Yeah but why three? Why that number specifically?"

"I think it goes something like, 'One is far too little, and two just seems like ya half-assing it. Do something four times and its fundamentally inefficient if ya require that many do-overs to feel satisfied by the result."

"That doesn't sound right."

Maku raised an eyebrow, "How so?"

"Just seems like such a shrahk excuse."

"To be fair, Ratlug ain't like most brainy Uruk so I can't say others can compare to him too well." Maku admitted as he paused to see a larger Uruk in armor forcing one of the slaves along. The two brothers moved to the side of the narrow alley they were in to let them pass as the conversation died down a bit, with Ishga finally speaking up.

"Why'd you go with them?"

Maku turned towards the red-themed Uruk with a questioning look "Excuse me?"

"The Storm, why did you follow the Grand Shaman when he disappeared?" Ishga turned to him with narrowed eyes "Father always told us the definitive meaning of loyalty was to stand by your master no matter what, and to honor his wishes when you can't."

"And father ended up dying at the hands of a mad fool," Maku pointed out "His words should be taken with a grain of salt else they lead to similar results, brother."

Maku turned away and began walking once more "Besides, the Warchief never demanded my presence before, so what real difference does it make if I'm there or not?"

"He was concerned by the lack of followers who stuck with him after Bubol's exodus."

"Then perhaps-!"

Maku's words were interrupted as a yell was heard down the alley they'd been traveling through. As one the brothers turned to see the slave from earlier running from the Uruk Escort. Before they could draw their weapons to join in the chase the Pursuer drew a large hammer from his back and tossed it. The heavy weapon slammed into the slave's back and brought him to the ground. The Escort caught up and kicked him once before retrieving his hammer and sliding it into a strap on his back next to its twin.

"Who's that?" Maku leaned towards his brother

"Muggrish Rock-Crusher," Ishga replied, watching as the berserker dragged the slave off "strange... he usually spends most of his time with one of the Warchief's advisors."

The Rock-Crusher dragged the slave into one of the nearby shanties, pushing aside a cloth which acted as the door. Maku wordlessly walked over to the shanty and spotted a crack in its ramshackle exterior. To his brother's surprise, the Warmonger kneeled and peered into the crack.

"What are you doing?" Ishga asked before gesturing towards the path they had been taking previously "We have work to do-"

"Silence yourself and come ease your suspicion." Maku said without turning away.

Ishga looked miffed for a moment before conceding and finding another hole in the shanty's wall to peer through.

It was a single room building like most of the smaller shanties were, with a single hole in one of the walls which was obviously supposed to be a window. A dirty cloth was hung up in front of it, making the rest of the room murky-looking at best. What they _could_ see was a figure sitting at a desk, Skog the Corruptor, looking mighty impatient as Muggrish tossed the injured slave into the chair opposite of him.

"You think ~Cough!~ you can just drag me from my cot, starve me and my friends-" the slave paused to hack violently, still managing to look on with hatred at the Uruk before him.

"Before you continue," Skog said with a scowl before reaching behind him towards the window and pulling back the cloth. Sunlight poured in, illuminating the room as well as a horrific splattering of gore in one of the corners.

Almost immediately the slave wretched violently as he scooted back in fear "Oh my ~Hack, cough!~ What is that?!"

"That's the last tark who made this little question' longer than it needed to be." the Corruptor said before wiping some of the sand from the table and analyzing it passively "So here's how this is going to work: I'm going to ask a question, if I don't like it then my pal over there is gonna beat ya. Keep displeasing me and sooner or later you'll be mirroring that poor sod over there. Please me and you'll be one step closer to getting back to your filthy bedroll and passing out until the taskmasters call for you again."

The slave growled, but eventually hung his head in defeat "Just... tell me what you want."

"Good sport this one is." Skog cackled before letting his face turn serious once more as he produced a parchment and laid it in front of the slave "Tell me where this comes from."

"What are they doing?" Maku asked with narrowed eyes

Ishga gave a bit of a grumble as he watched, his eyes narrowing as the scenario before him implied certain things in his head.

The Blood-Storm gave nothing else to his inquisitive brother, who rolled his eyes before glancing back inside the shanty.

"I'm telling you, I can't tell you much more than what you already know," the slave said "I got kicked out of a lot of schools when I was a kid, I don't even know half the stuff about Vacuo let alone Mistral, and I live here! You need a history buff for this kind of stuff."

"Oh really? Well do you mind pointing us in the direction of one before my pal here turns you into something similar to jelly?"

"Well there was O'neal, the guy who got fucking eaten by your boys several days ago," the slave hissed "he was pretty into the whole historical thing."

The Corruptor sighed as he leaned back "Almost as much as he was into being delicious apparently. Anyone actually useful now?"

As they watched, the sounds of footsteps drew the eyes of the two hunters to another red-themed Uruk hastily making his way towards their specific shanty.

"Hell, I don't know!" the slave threw his hands up "Half the guys you got doing your work for you are from other contingents, the other half are just random civies, and the ones that I do know aren't gonna be much-"

The new Uruk pushed his way inside, the rush he was in apparently leading to him not noticing the two on-looking hunters "Apologies lads, tried to make it in time for interrogation but I ran into a spot of trouble with one of Hork's underlings."

"Shrakh, what now?" Skog asked him, problems with Hork's little lapdogs meant trouble for the entire stronghold "Did they start asking questions about us?"

"No no, it seems the Black Gate's Overseer issued new edicts to be carried out." The scholar muttered as he paused to fold his arms several feet away from the table, turning to admire the red mess of remains "Pigug's boys are running around frantically trying to keep up with them."

"What's he asking for?" Muggrish finally spoke up, this new development apparently garnering more interest than listening to the slave complain.

"They're regulating grog-"

"The bastards!" the Corruptor barked "It was hard enough finding enough stuff to replicate a semi-decent swill, now they's takin' that from us too?"

"Didn't we have enough of that regulating shrakh back in Mordor?" the Rock-Crusher grumbled as he glanced towards the literate Uruk

"Well Hork's been convinced that having lesser Uruks on the swill will have us more prepared when some form of retaliation from the men-folk occurs and-"

"Hogwash!" Skog growled before folding his arms "All Uruk fight better with some good grog in 'em, Hork should know that simple fact by now. Unbelievable... Torz, ain't Dreamer doin' anything about this?"

"Torz the Literate One?" Ishga whispered under his breath, momentarily drawing his brother's attention.

Torz tapped his fingers together "Well, Tugog has been trying harder to get in touch with his visions nowadays, its gotten to the point where he can't be around as often as-"

"Oh for the love of- He's off sleeping for days on end while Horkie boy loses his damn mind over a bloody wall, the hell's the point of figurin' out this gate scenario if we's all just gonna end up executed by the end of it?"

"Now we don't know if things will turn out that way," Torz pointed out before gesturing to the thoroughly confused slave still sat at the table "we should focus on continuing the interrogation and-"

"What a load a shrakh," Skog sighed before raising a finger for emphasis "last time the big bastard was like this that executioner of his had to have three blacksmiths workin 'round the clock forging new swords for him and those head-hunters of his. The blades kept breaking because of all the beheading they were doin'!"

Maku had heard enough, sliding down as the red trio inside continued their back and forth, almost completely forgetting about the lost human caught in the midst of their arguing.

"So, seems like you weren't the only ones working on this Gate situation of yours," the blue-Uruk stated with a shrug "though it seems these fellows are interested in a much more different aspect than you was."

"It has to be Dushrat," Ishga muttered, and to his brother's confused glare he stated "let's just say he was curious about this as well but was assigned elsewhere for the time being. He'd often have Torz gathering info wherever he couldn't be, so I guess he wasn't keen on waiting."

The Blood-Storm sighed "Can't believe he'd do this without me, I wanted him to hold off till after we'd calmed down the Black Gate's Garrison a bit. So many of those lapdogs are waiting for a chance for us to start killin' each other, and with them so suspicious of the master- Maku?"

Ishga realized that somewhere in the midst of his angry reflecting, his brother had taken off. Glancing around himself, he caught sight of a blue form disappearing around the corner of the shanty. Realizing where his brother planned on going, the Blood-Storm immediately turned back to the hole in the wall to find the three Uruks still grumbling about the recent changes.

"So... should we have been talking like this around the Pinkskin?" Muggrish asked, but Skog waved him off

"No worries big guy, he was paste the second we fished him outta the crowd."

"Wait what?!"

The panicked voice of the slave was overshadowed by the sudden entrance of Maku himself, who simply strolled inside as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Judging by the swiftness by which the Uruks inside had hands on their weapons, it was not.

"Is that? Ishga's brother, right?" Torz glanced towards the other two "The one with the Shaman?"

"What are you doin' off your leash Storm boy?" Skog asked as he unlatched his spiked club from a loop on his belt "Shouldn't you be lodged halfway up your master's arse?"

"Good to see you're doing well," Maku grumbled as he glanced between the trio "just passing by when I heard you guys yelling at the little runt over there."

"Hey can we get back to that paste thing-?"

"You heard us?!" Skog spoke over the now-increasingly worried slave.

"Well to be fair, we could've probably been a bit quieter." Torz mentioned with a raised finger "I was under the impression that being heard was not much of an issue."

"What in the dark lord's name would give ya that idea?"

"Ah, I do believe it went 'Those brain-dead grunts wouldn't know an interrogation from a belching contest'." The scholar pointed out

"I would never-"

"You do have a habit of downplaying risks." Muggrish muttered

"You're here to be big and intimidating," the Corruptor stated "talking is for real Uruks, not hired help."

"I assume you came in here for a reason," Torz pointed out to Maku before his cohorts could continue their argument "a high-ranking member of the Shaman's Elite such as yourself would not directly involve yourself in a miniscule matter such as this without reason."

The other Uruks did take note of the truth in the Literate One's statement, returning their gazes to the Warmonger.

"My reason's simple," Maku shrugged "you want to find out more about the origin of the Dreamer Gate. I can help you."

* * *

 **~Unknown Cave~**

The grunts of effort echoed through the cave, rebounding off its walls before dissipating. This was to be expected, what wasn't to be expected was that they came from only one person.

Yang slammed into one of the stone pillars dotted around the room, taking a second to catch her breath before glaring over at Krosh, who had only a semi-amused look in his eyes.

"Listen Lady, I said we'd be working on your dodging." he pointed out before nodding towards her "Stop trying to fight back and focus on dodging for Sauron's sakes."

"Sorry," Yang coughed before giving him a smirk "its just that your face looks so punchable. Probably just instincts or something."

"Yeah, I get that a lot." Krosh gave a small chuckle before raising his fists "Not going to help you out much though, lady."

Yang simply sighed before pushing herself into a standing position once more and clenching her hands tightly as the Uruk began stepping towards her. She swallowed as she raised her hands to defend herself, watching his arms sway slightly. She tried looking for a sign as to which he'd attacked with, when suddenly his leg shot out instead.

She immediately slid to the side as his foot carved a chunk out of the stone pillar behind her, but his leg didn't stop moving as Yang tried to orient herself once more. She looked up just as he slung the torn rock at her with his leg. She leaned out of the way as it sailed past her, unable to turn fast enough to block the following kick which connected with her side and forced her back.

Krosh returned to his previous lazy stance with a sigh "Too slow lady, gonna have to get faster."

Yang gritted her teeth, biting down on her rebuttal as the Uruk folded his arms "You know," he began "this'd probably work a bit better if you weren't so stiff."

"What?"

"Stiff Lady, geez." Krosh waved it off with a roll of his eyes "Never mind, where were we?"

He glanced back in her direction to see Yang crack another smirk, "I think we were right about HERE!"

On that last word she activated her semblance, the bored Warmonger actually having to shield his eyes as the decrepit cave was suddenly flooded with more light. Having saved up the damage from the last hour of abuse, Yang knocked her knuckles together as Krosh gave another sigh. He scratched the back of his head for a moment and clicked his teeth together as flames radiated from Yang's Aura.

"Well fine," he said before smiling as she advanced "guess we can work on offense now. Don't expect it to be much easier, Lady."

Yang never thought such a simple word could annoy her so much, but the way this grade-A bastard managed to say it with such condescension just irked her.

Krosh extended a hand towards her and gestured for her to come at him, to which she answered appropriately. He backed out of her first grab, shifting between feet as he watched her approach for a follow-up. She let loose, fists flying with enough force to signal Krosh to step out of the way. He kept dodging backwards until his back pressed against one of the stone pillars, which seemed to distract him for a second. Yang capitalized, lunging forward as he turned his gaze on her.

He stepped forward before jumping back on the pillar and leaping towards her. Thankfully, Yang could see this quickly enough to slide her head out of the way of the flying knee that passed just past her ear. Suddenly, his foot extended and used her shoulder as a stepping stool. He landed several yards away as she recovered from the small jab. Krosh frowned as he saw this before letting another tired-smirk cross his face as he shook his head.

"Even with all that magic stuff, far too stiff lady."

Yang didn't have enough time to ponder his words before he suddenly raced towards her. He spun out of the way of her fist, swinging his leg into the back of her leg as he did. Instantly she was brought down to a knee, jerking her head to the side just to catch a flying foot to the face. She rolled back and pushed herself back to her feet as Krosh came at her again.

She jumped back as he kicked at where her head was again, but he kept the pressure up. She raised both arms to block his fist, catching it in between them as she grunted. She'd been forced back several feet, boots digging into the ground as Krosh raised his leg. She jumped back out of the way of the kick, charging back in and sending another series of swings his way. After several more quick dodges he ducked under one and rammed his head into her gut, making her cough and grab at the impact zone as her back slammed into another stone pillar. She glanced up as he charged her again, leaping with both feet as he sailed towards her.

She threw herself out of the way of the dropkick, rolling onto her hands and knees and glancing up just as the Uruk leaped at her from the pillar. She rolled out of the way again as he skidded on the ground and was dashing at her again with an arm rearing back before she had even fully stood.

She went to deflect the oncoming fist, only for his hand to open mid swing. The punch turned into a sudden grab, and before she knew it he'd dragged her arm behind her and kicked her leg in again.

Face down in the ground with a boot on the back of her neck and her arm trapped in his grasp, Yang struggled rabidly to no avail.

"I've fought in worst situations Lady, stop your struggling so we can get back to dodging already." Krosh seemed like he was humored by her attempts "If you don't I can just dislocate both your arms and step on you until you become more cooperative."

That prospect actually gave Yang pause, but before she could decide whether struggling was worth it, the Uruk gave a small hum "Actually, that sounds far too entertaining to pass up on actually."

Before she could contest that, a horrid pain forced a scream out of her throat as he pulled.

* * *

 **~The Sandy Expanse: Abandoned Drilling Station~**

"So let me just see if I've got this straight," Tuka murmured as he watched on in disbelief, before him was an Uruk by the name of Borgu who was crouched near the detached loader "You've been hiding in a deathstalker-"

"Her name was Gretchen damn it!"

"Gretchen's den for all these months?" the Berserker didn't want to believe it, it had taken them quite some time to slay the beast. Probably would've taken longer if they didn't come across something conveniently big to drop on her. Yet this scrawny thing claimed to be living with it?

Borgu was busy trying to chisel words into the loader which had been used to kill said deathstalker, or Gretchen as he seemed adamant to call it, in order to mark its grave. The beast's body had already finished evaporating, and the poet's crying seemed only to grow since. If Zog's word was anything to go on this Uruk was apparently a pretty well-known sod. Tuka never had the pleasure of meeting him, but Uruk lyricists like Zog seemed to idolize this one.

The prodigal poet glanced back and nodded morosely to the beserker's question, wiping tears from his eyes as the sad music resonating in the area grew just a bit. Uthug had tried blocking the noise out with his hands but, despite his own disdain for its seemingly unending persistence persistence, Tuka was able to tolerate it.. at least for the time being.

Tuka couldn't find the singer's fascination with the pint-sized Uruk, who was even thinner and ganglier than Uthug. Hell, he seemed to be even thinner than that female tark Zog kept carrying around. If his apparent lacking in the physical department wasn't enough, Borgu's magical talent in this realm consisted of this annoyingly persistent music which seemed to waft from him endlessly. Yes, according to him he'd discovered it not too long after leaving Hork's tower for _'greener fields'_. According to Zog he did that a lot in Mordor too, acting as the travelling minstrel type.

"I'm gonna call shrakh on that." Uthug piped up, having been stuck in a similar state to that of a berserker throughout most of the Poet's explanation "Those dark beasts can't even look in the direction of us without gettin' a hankering for Uruk Meat."

"She wasn' like that, chums." Borgu stood and backed away to look upon his handiwork sadly "She wasn't like them, she was a special one."

And just like that the damn music picked up once more as the Poet placed a hand to his chest "She was my best deadly friend in the world~! And though I'd never even talked to that girl~! I'd rush into my hidey hole, and her bloodlust touched my soul. So I realized just-"

"Sounds like you just hid from her whenever it got back from hunting," Uthug interrupted the song before scratching his chin "Though I will admit, hiding right under the nose of the area's apex predator is a high risk high reward gamble ya took there."

The poet seemed unimpressed with having his impromptu musical interrupted, but waved it off as the music shifted back into its slightly somber chorus "Sure it may have started off as a strained relationship what with me having to hide whenever she came back from the hunt, but I know deep in my black heart that Gretchen and I understood each other right up till the end. We was both man-killing machines who just so happened to make each other's acquaintance in a tight little love den in the middle of nowhere."

Tuka tried not to think too deeply on Borgu's implication "Wait, so how've you been surviving out here if that bea-Gretchen killed or chased off whatever got near?"

"I just ate whatever she hadn't finished," Borgu stated

"What she hadn't... so..."

"Yep, snuck out from time to time to nibble on whatever she'd cut down!" the poet sighed before rubbing the grave loader fondly "good ol' symbiotic relation we's had."

"Pfft," Uthug was not so easily convinced "and what if she don't kill nothing? What then?"

Borgu shrugged before jerking a thumb to the side "My hidey Hole was packed full of these tasty treats that was kept in boxes and-"

"You've got food?"Tuka interrupted

"Of course, older than sin really... but edible!"

"Then why would you need to eat a beast's leftovers?"

"And ruin our symbiotic relationship!?" The poet gasped, as if the rational thought was a personal insult. Borgu shook his head at Tuka, who merely sighed, before glancing a bit to the side "By the way, is ya pal over here okay?"

Borgu was referring to Zog, who stood off to the side staring at him in amazement, as he'd been doing for quite some time now. The singer recognized that he'd been spoken to, and quickly shook his head before rubbing the back of it "Oh! I was just uh, thinking that its kinda gettin' a bit late and well, we ain't got many options right about now so-"

Uthug realized what he was going to say and stepped forward "Oh don't you even think about-!"

He stopped when Tuka placed a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back, the berserker grumbled "What are you doing, we wanted to rest here. It's what we fought the damn deathstalker for."

"I will not be subjected to two song-crazed worms at once! Dealing with one is enough, but this one's got some damn music following him around like a cloud of stinging pests."

"Oh please, you can't honestly believe wandering out there in a dark desert is better than dealing with some music."

The musket-wielder turned back to the two lyricists, narrowing his eyes in contemplation.

"So can you get any tune?" Zog questioned as he leaned on his shield

"Dunno about that, haven't tested it much." Borgu said as he kneeled in front of the grave, "I did found out how to lower and raise how loud it was, didn't want ta agitate Gretchen with it... Gretchen..."

As the singer comforted the poet, Uthug turned back to the Berserker "Do I even need to say anything?"

"He just said he can lower-"

"Lower! Not stop. Key phrases here lad," the angry Uruk leaned forward a bit "I was thinking we could just kill him and have a good rest in here without the extra noise."

"...That's completely unnecessary." Tuka stated before gesturing around "A semi-decent roof, possible food, and the area shouldn't have wandering Grimm till after we're long gone."

"Come on! Just a quickie with ya axes or my spear rifle thing."

"Hey guys!"

The two glanced up as Zog walked over, "Just heard that Borgu's willing to have us stay over for a bit, he needs people for Gretchen's farewell speech tomorrow."

"We're the ones who killed the damn thing."

"Quantity over quality he says." Zog retorted

"She would've wanted it that way!" the poet cried out

"Tuka please!" the musket-wielder begged

"Look, if you want to be such a whining little runt over some music, then feel free to head on out there on your own. Ain't nothing to stop you."

As expected, Uthug had nothing to bite back with at that. He just angrily fumed at the berserker who rolled his eyes as a low moan caught his ears.

"Oh! Is that part of the music too?" Zog asked

"Could only get instruments though," Borgu scratched his chin "could never make a chorus for myself."

"Eh its just the Tark," Uthug grumbled before glaring at Zog "Oi, why ain't ya keepin' that damn thing muzzled or somethin'?"

"I don't got a muzzle."

"Just stuff a rag in her mouth, I ain't got time for listening to Tarks whine and moan."

"Oi Tuka, do we-?"

"We don't have any rags, less you mean to tear a piece of your already shoddy cloth off and use that?"

"Why can't one a you lot do it th-?"

"Excuse me ma'am, do ya know how to make any fancy clothes?"

The Traveling Trio stopped in the midst of their rising banter as their attention was brought back to Borgu, who was now kneeling in front of the groaning captive.

"P-Please, pain... can't feel my leg..."

"Yes yes, you're injured and wish for aid I get it," the poet waved it off "but you're a tark lady right? Surely ya must have some skills in spinnin some good thread eh?"

"Head pulsing... eyes dimming... throat dry..."

"See we're havin' us a ceremony soon and... well," he rubbed a hand on his dirty trousers "I ain't wearin' me usual rags for somethin' this important, Gretchen deserves better."

"What exactly..." Tuka took some time to properly take in the sight before him, leaning back towards the other two as he did "is he doin'?"

"Being a dumb glob, obviously." Uthug folded his arms and glanced to the side "Honestly I've come to expect it from music-folk."

"So he wants to dress nicely for his pet's farewell." Zog said defensively "If I had a beast as charmin' as she sounds I'd want her remembered with honor too!"

"She nearly killed all of us!"

"That being so," Tuka muttered as he glanced back to the Poet as he continued conversing with the struggling Faunus "I can see many upsides to sticking around at the moment."

* * *

 **~Unknown Cave~**

"Oh come on, Lady."

Yang rolled onto her good side and gasped for air, trying to refill her lungs after the long-winded scream she'd just finished.

"I just dislocated it a bit, geez, didn't even snap it like I usually would." Krosh stepped into her line of sight and crouched down beside her head.

"Yep..." Yang gritted out whilst controlling her breathing "I know... totally felt...worse than this...before..."

"Still yapping even in pain," the Warmonger shook his head "I can respect dedication like that."

Yang glanced up at him "R-Really?"

"Yeah, but in respectable people." the Uruk chuckled to himself as Yang pushed herself into a sitting location, trying to keep from applying pressure to where her arm had been dislocated from her shoulder.

"You know, that kind of sass talk isn't what I expect from a kidnapper."

"No no, I just bought you, not kidnapped. If I was the one who'd kidnapped you, you'd have far more broken bones." He shrugged "My doctor mentioned it having something to do with having a bad rep with women."

The blonde simply gave him an unamused glare, prompting the Uruk to shrug as he stepped away "Whatever," he said before clapping his hands together "now come here so I can shove that thing back into place. We can continue after-"

The sound of an unlocking door interrupted the warmonger, drawing the eyes of the room's two occupants to the only notable door in the little cave.

"I thought you said that was locked?"

"I lied." Krosh admitted casually before glaring at the Uruk who stepped through the door. He was also in blue and white body paint, with trousers identical to Krosh's. Besides the obviously thinner appearance of this new Uruk, the most eye-catching thing about him was the metal contraption hooked up around his head.

"Mulgrim?" Krosh said as he narrowed his eyes "I wasn't planning on calling you until-"

"I know, Captain." Mulgrim's voice echoed within the metal contraption "Sorry ta say that you're playtime's gonna have to be cut short."

The Warmonger visibly deflated, the cockiness from before almost immediately being replaced with annoyance "Is it my old man again? Because you can tell that bastard-"

"Shaman's orders, you and Ogthrak got somewhere to be."

Mention of the Shaman made Krosh sigh, knowing he had no way of getting out of THAT kind of order "Fine, guess me and Oggie get to spend some quality time together." he straightened up and jerked a thumb back towards the blonde "You're still gonna have to take care of my little champion here."

Mulgrim audibly grumbled at that, but nodded all the same as Krosh stretched and walked past him out of the door. "And Grim," Krosh stopped in the doorway "Only I get to play with the slaves, if I smell trouble then we'll see how tight that lovely hat of yours can get."

With that he gave another lazy smirk and turned before letting the heavy door close behind him.

Yang got to her feet, one hand clutching her arm as Mulgrim turned back to her. He pointed at the limb while tilting his head to the side. Yang didn't answer, instead catching her breath so she could 'deal' with the problem. This wouldn't have been the first time she'd dislocated something, hell she'd probably had bones put back in place even before she started training to be a huntress. As the adept tank of Team RWBY, Yang had had more than enough chances to get used to physical trauma, even without her aura there to cover for her. But that Krosh guy, the way he'd yanked it out of place was just... odd... in the painful way. She wasn't about to start crying or anything, she could handle it. But that initial yank had shocked her into screaming in a way that she hadn't in a long time.

She used her annoyance at being humiliated to distract her from the sharp sting of 'dealing' with the problem. Mulgrim simply stood by watching her with apathy which seemed to rival Yang's simmering anger.

"Old man?" she'd mentioned as she turned and began sizing up her new... 'friend' "he calls those spawn pit thingies his old man?"

The metal-headed Uruk tilted his head at her before sighing deeply "Don't know why it'd matter much ta ya, ya obviously don't know much 'bout where true Uruks come from, so don't see no point in tellin' ya 'bout one o' the fakest to ever walk the land."

"Well aren't you just a shining ray of positive vibes."

"Ya need ta rest for ya next training session, Krosh don't want ya dragging ya feet next time he comes around for something ta punch."

Yang wasn't exactly writhing in anticipation for that, and she wasn't sure a hard nap would be enough to get her in good enough condition to match him if this guy was telling the truth. If Krosh came back for round two, she was sure he'd end up nearly crippling her again. She was adamant in maintaining shape, like most in her profession would, and she could tell immediately that this was not the proper way to train the body. If anything, if he kept it up in the same manner as today's 'session', there was a risk Yang would actually lose some effectiveness in the process.

Despite that worrying thought, Yang knew she was lucky. In the hands of an unknown enemy, the list of horrible things that could've been done to her were pretty infinite. She'd gotten lucky that the scumbag she ended up in the possession of actually _needed_ her for something. Keyword being needed, and in one piece if their previous spat meant anything. If she was just some disposable toy then he'd probably torn the whole limb off for shits and giggles.

It wasn't good by any means, but at least like this... like this she had time. She had time to wait for rescue or search for an escape.

Speaking of escape, she noticed quickly that Mulgrim continued staring at her from off to the side.

"So are you gonna-?"

"Stand here watching ya? Yes. I'll be doin' 'at."

They sat in silence for a while, with Yang glancing between the door and the still Uruk "What exactly is keeping me from kicking your teeth in, taking your keys and getting out?"

"Fact that I ain't got no keys."

Some more awkward silence.

"Wouldn't that mean you're technically locked in here too?"

"Yep."

"... you gonna tell me why?"

"We ain't got camera thingies set up yet, I'm ya camera."

Well that was just great, Mulgrim the Camera guy. Yang had little doubt that she could take him, even without her gauntlets and a sore arm. He didn't give off the air of confidence that Krosh seemed to radiate, nor the crazed bloodlust that someone like Bubol seemed to have seeping out of his diseased pores-

Yang gagged as she remembered that particularly disgusting Uruk, and winced as she realized her win/loss against these things was currently 2:2. And that win against Krimp was due more in part to Ruby's mid-battle strategizing than anything else. For guys this seemingly behind in terms of literally everything, they seemed far more threatening than she'd originally thought. Coming across that Eater guy's raiding party, they just seemed like an uglier form of regular thugs with crappier weapons. Especially with the obvious lack of intelligence that many of them had displayed at times.

Speaking of which...

She glanced back at Mulgrim, who narrowed his eyes at her. He only seemed moderately intelligent for an Orc, not as smart as Krosh but maybe, just maybe on a Krimp level. If that was the case...

"Hey um, you guys got a bathroom in here." Yang tried to make herself look as needy as possible.

He raised an eyebrow "A what?"

"You know a bathroom, a place where- you guys don't have bathrooms do you?"

"Bath- ya mean a bathin' hole? The hell would we give ya a bathin' hole?"

"Okay no," Yang scrunched her eyes for a moment before they shot open "the place you go after you drink too much and it needs to... ya know...come out?"

"Ya've gotta corner right ovah there."

The brawler groaned "What about after you've eaten too much meat?"

"Ya've gotta corner right ovah there."

Welp, the old sneak out through the plumbing system routine is clearly out of the question. And if that was how they treated waste, she had a sneaking suspicion she wouldn't get him to give her some privacy. Perhaps she'd have to rethink the upsides of knocking him out if she was in there long enough for the corner to actually become a necessity. She glanced past him towards the metal door once again. She wasn't entirely sure if she could do it without her gauntlets, but maybe if she could get her semblance charged up again she could simply punch her way through.

"Well what're you gonna do if I decide that I don't want you watching me all the time," she crossed her arms as the Uruk rolled his eyes "I mean, you don't look so tough."

"Don't have ta look tough, Lady, just gotta be tough!" Mulgrim grumbled

"Oh yeah, well prove it!" She tried egging him on

"No."

"I'm sorry what?"

"Krosh said I ain't able ta play with 'is toys, so I ain't playin'."

"Oh what, you're just gonna let that guy tell you what to do?"

"He's a Warmonger, so yes."

This was just getting her more angry, all this time these guys proved themselves to have at least some level of inherent need to hurt stuff. Even Krimp was unable to keep himself from beating the piss out of them while they were 'having a friendly brawl'.

"Come on! I thought you said he was one of the fakest Uruks ever."

"One o' the fakest who could probably beat me to a pulp with a single toenail."

The blonde proceeded to sigh as she massaged her arm again, if this guy refused to take the bait, the only hope she had was to charge up next time Krosh came by for 'training'. And as soon as that would probably be, that just meant more time for people to worry about her. Yang didn't like letting people worry about her, she was the strong, supportive friend who could make even a Schnee laugh (rare as it was) not some damsel who made her friends worry about them all the time. And she was sure her sister would be tearing her hair out trying to find her, she just had one of those bigger hearts.

Damn, what if her dad caught wind of this? The mental image of Taiyang running himself ragged with another potential loss made Yang's frown deepen. Sighing again, the brawler could only hope that her teammates weren't worrying themselves too much about her.

* * *

 **~Beacon Academy~**

"-and then afterwards Nora told me all about how Jaune was havin' some girlfriend troubles. So since I was so good with friends I decided to help him. I couldn't do it alone, so I went and got some other guys to help me out!"

Weiss was seconds away from goring herself with Myrtenaster, how many excessively convenient adventures can _one_ fat monster have in the span of three days? The answer was too many, as Krimp had regailed them with stories of how he'd somehow managed to befriend the majority of the kids in their grade. She'd stopped looking at Blake for mental support, as the Cat-Faunus's features had been frozen in baffled disbelief since the Arcade story with Penny, as if her suspension of disbelief had been battered into oblivion by the sheer amount of illogical conveniences that the Uruk was spouting.

The worst part was that he had proof of almost every deed he'd spoken to them about. Somewhere during his journey Krimp had gotten ahold of a scroll, and had been taking various pictures during his companionable exploits. They could've been fake, but with how much Team JNPR seemed to enjoy his presence she could only fear that this wall of flesh had somehow worked his way into the hearts of their comrades. It was insulting, for the past few days this monster had been having after-school special adventures whilst they were reeling from the aftermath of their fight with Bubol. To think that one of the things responsible for Ruby's hospitalization and Yang's kidnapping was sitting here laughing about an excessively over the top shopping trip the'd gone on, it...it wasn't a nice feeling to have.

Krimp was going through his scroll as he neared the ending of his latest story, stopping once he found the picture he was looking for.

"-and so then after Cardin paid for the milkshakes, we all carried Jaune out of the store cheering his name in order to make him feel better!"

He turned the screen towards them and sure enough, its image revealed the entirety of Team CRDL in casualwear throwing various gang signs to the camera. They were clustered around Krimp, who was taking the picture as well as hefting Jaune up with his free arm. The Arc was dressed in what could only be described as _'hoodlum'_ attire which seemed far too baggy for him, complete with a ridiculous pair of dark shades and a backwards cap. Despite the forwardness of the attire, the look on Jaune's face seemed to cry out for anyone to rescue him from the nightmare he'd just been forced through.

"Good times." Krimp said before lowering the scroll and taking a deep breath "I'll never forget that one afternoon yesterday."

Weiss glanced to Blake, who simply leaned forward stiffly before asking "How?"

"How what?" Krimp tilted his head to the side

"Blake, you already know we aren't going to get anything useful out of this... thing." the heiress tried intervening before another idiotic explanation was provided

"But Weiss, I thoughts if I told ya about my times here, you two could use it in the future when you make more friends!"

"This is not even close to helpful!" Weiss said with a grunt of defeat "We've been listening to you rave about all this nonsense while our Teammate is currently bed-ridden!"

"Yeah, I heard about that." the Uruk shook his head "Tis a shame what happened to little red."

"You know, we might've been able to avoid that if you had helped us." Blake finally spoke up, still recovering from the ridiculousness of Krimp's tales.

"But Bubby's my friend! Can't sully his good faith now can I?"

"He smashed her into a tree!" Weiss accused

"Well honestly, I don' know what you guys expected goin' up against 'em." Krimp shook his head sympathetically "He's one of the deadliest archers in all of the Dark Lord's army!"

"B-but how?!" Weiss exclaimed "How can that gyrating pervert be that dangerous?!"

The Uruk tilted his head to the side before smiling once more, "Oh! Story Time again!"

"Wait no-I meant-!"

The Uruk took a long breath before glancing between the two girls and speaking "See Bubby wasn't always so... uncontrollable, as he is nowadays. Used to be a loyal warrior who could swing a blade faster than a hunter could throw a spear. He followed under good ol' Cappie Stakuga, never even touched a bow... 'till one day..."

 ** _~Middle-Earth, many years ago~_**

 _"Cut out their eyes! Make 'em weep blood!"_

 _Captain Stakuga's words resonated within the Uruk forces as they scaled the walls of the fortress, roars of blood thirst matching his own as his underlings pulled themselves over the edges and towards the criminally outnumbered human defenders._

 _Arrows were loosed, but despite finding their marks in the skulls of the Orcish horde the monsters continued pushing. Captain Stakuga growled as he watched skirmishes break out, despite the well-trained nature of his Uruks, the men-folk managed to hold them for longer than the master would find acceptable. The Captain was easy to identify amongst the crowd of other Uruks, and was targeted by the defenders who were currently uncontested._

 _Several swings of the massive great sword clenched in his hand were enough to send the tarks flying off the edges of the wall, screams following them as they plummeted to certain death. Stakuga had no chance to gloat, as soon an arrow found its mark in his shoulder. He stumbled behind several tumbled crates, roaring in rage as he leaned out to spot the true spine of this agitating resistance._

 _"Somebody bleed those damn archers!"_

 _At his command, smaller Uruks began climbing the nearby towers situated along the walls. The bowmen took note of them and began picking off the climbing opponents before they had a chance to outmaneuver them._

 _"Move faster you worms!"_

 _As he roared this, Stakuga had left himself open. A nearby defender had just finished off the Uruk he'd previously been engaged with, and spotted the enemy captain focused on ordering his followers. The defender gripped his sword in both hands and charged, gritting his teeth to keep the Uruk from hearing his panicked breaths._

 _But as he reared up to swing, a smaller Uruk slid between them blade already drawn. They collided, the defender reeling back from the sudden parry as the Uruk charged him "Die for the master, tark!"_

 _The Uruk slashed at him, swords colliding several times as the Wall Defender tried to assume a proper defensive stance. What he hadn't anticipated was for the Uruk to crouch low and sweep his legs out from under him. Before he could roll out of the way, the impish Orc buried his blade into his stomach, leaving no time for the defender to gasp out a cry for help before pulling the blade out and stabbing him several more times._

 _"Bubol," the voice of his Captain drew the otherwise preoccupied Uruk's eyes to Stakuga "grab some worms and take those towers! Our useless archers need something to distract their foils proper!"_

 _"Yes Captain," Bubol nodded furiously before running a tongue along his teeth "we'll hang their entrails from the ramparts!"_

 _With that the impish Uruk whipped his sword from the thoroughly mutilated human's body and charged towards the nearest defender tower. Ducking and sliding through the many skirmishes occurring between the opposing forces. As he got closer, the three bowmen atop the tower included him as one of their targets. Bubol licked his lips as he noticed one crossbow turn in his direction._

 _He ducked behind a pair of dueling swordsmen just as the arrow was fired, finding its mark instead inside the human sword-wielder's back. Darting from the fallen human, Bubol saw the Bowman load another arrow. He also spotted the door to the tower, guarded by two humans with great-shields who were standing their ground under assault from three Uruk-Hai berserkers._

 _Grinning ear to ear, Bubol leaped onto a nearly destroyed cart and ran along it as a bolt buried itself in the wood near his feet. He leaped from the carriage towards one of the berserkers with enough force to shove the larger Uruk onto one of the Defenders' spear and send both man and Uruk crashing through the tower's door. The berserker cursed him, but was soon distracted by the new advantageous position he had atop the defender and began swinging his axes upon his pinned victim whilst ignoring the weapon he was impaled upon._

 _Bubol stood and took a breath as he spotted the spiral stone stairs leading up to the top of the tower. Licking some blood from his blade, the Uruk grinned and raced up the stairs to the sound of the roars of his battle brothers. Reaching the top of the tower, Bubol threw open the hatch leading outside and pushed out into the open to see two of the three bowmen turning on him while the other continued assisting his fellow warriors from above._

 _Bubol growled as he pulled himself out, one arm already rearing back with his blade as his quarries notched their arrows. He reared back fully and threw his sword at one of the bowmen, causing him to panic and send his arrow wide. The other arrow found its mark in Bubol's chest, but did nothing more than cause the Uruk to cry out in humored anger as he continued running towards them. The panicked bowmen raised his arms as the thrown sword carved through his wrists, the force sending him back against the stone edge of the tower as the blade fell at his feet. The other bowman reached for another arrow as Bubol approached, but was distracted by a growl and glanced to his side to see an Uruk archer scaling over the side of the tower._

 _The arrow found its place in his head instead, and the Bowman threw his bow to the ground as he drew a dagger from his sash. He swung it downward only for Bubol to catch his wrist with his own, they struggled against one another with the blade caught between them as the third Bowman struggled to stay focused on supporting his brethren from above. The second grunted in pain as he stood and tried reaching for his own dagger with one of his wounded hands, accidentally kicking the Uruk blade to the side. The sword skidded into Bubol's line of sight, making him hiss and shove the first bowman off him as he ran for the blade._

 _Picking it up, Bubol used his momentum to charge into the wounded bowman shoulder first. The force sent the man tumbling over the side of the tower, smashing into the side of the wall below before tumbling down. Bubol had no time to mock him, turning in time to deflect a swing of the first bowman's dagger. The other bowman could not risk it, and turned his weapon from the battle below to the one behind him. He pulled back his arrow, steeling his breath as the Uruk and his comrade slashed back and forth at each other. The Uruk noticed him out of the corner of his eye, but was busy deflecting the flurry of attacks from the other Bowman._

 _"Keep him steady!" the bowman called out_

 _His partner seemed to nod as he went in for a jab with his dagger, Bubol twirled around him trying to get at his back. The dagger-wielder spun around in time to deflect the sword, the two pushed against each other until Bubol's eyes traveled to the side to see the Bowman's fingers loosen. Immediately Bubol ducked to the side, kicking at the back of the second bowman's legs. The man fell directly in line of the other bowman's arrow, which pierced his neck as he fell to the ground._

 _"No!" the last human archer cried out as he reached for another arrow, Bubol racing towards him._

 _The Uruk was spurred on by the pounding sound of footsteps coming up the tower, and as he raised his blade to execute the last feeble defender a hand grabbed his shoulder. Bubol didn't have enough time to turn and question the owner of said hand before a blade tore through his torso, the tip traveling through his insides and poking out from his front. The Bowman seemed to mirror his own shock, before the hand's owner pulled him back and sent him sprawling to the ground in a heap._

 _"Lord Gauldfry!" the bowman exclaimed as he watched the sun reflect off the chest-piece sported by the armored knight who had saved him_

 _"Can you still fight!?" Gauldfry barked at him as he pushed past him_

 _"Wh- I mean yes, but I assumed you'd be helping your father escape-"_

 _Bubol tuned them out, focusing instead on the blood spilling from the deep wound in his gut. He didn't feel pain, only anger at being wounded by such a cheap shot. He rolled over and glared at the knight who seemed to be trying to steady the shaken bowman, weren't human lords supposed to be noble in battle? Bah! What was he thinking?! A human being honorable in battle, it made him laugh. He choked up a bit of his black blood during this laughter, but that didn't stop him as he glanced towards his sword. It was much too far away for him to reach in a timely fashion, so he turned his gaze to the corpse of the Uruk archer who had been shot earlier. Or more importantly... that Uruk's crossbow._

 _"I need you to find Captain Albany," the Knight said to the Bowman, who nodded at his words "tell him we can **not** hold out for long. I'll do what I can for now, but you must get this letter to him before the Orcs get through the blockade."_

 _The Bowman nodded whilst gripping the parchment tightly, and the Knight prepared to send him forth before seeing the soldier's eyes suddenly widen at something behind him. The knight immediately turned and threw himself to the side as Bubol swung a crossbow at him, the prod of the weapon instead traveling into the neck of the bowman instead._

 _"Damn you!" the Knight cried out before charging him sword-raised._

 _Bubol struggled for a second to pull the repurposed crossbow from the bowman's neck as the human charged him, the blood of the soldier's gurgling out with an empty call for air. He instead took note of the arrow still notched in said crossbow, and twisted around with the human still stuck on his crossbow's prod. He pulled the trigger and sent a bolt slamming into the knight's chest plate. Though it couldn't puncture, the force did cause the lord to stumble._

 _Bubol dodges to the side as the knight's sword cleaves into the stone behind him, of course the body of the bowman causes his balance to be thrown off. He tumbles to the ground with the corpse, the bowman's quiver of arrows spilling out beside them. Gauldfrey turns on him just as Bubol frees his bow from the neck of the bowman, then charges on him blade drawn. Bubol slides back out of the way of the knight's leaping slash, stepping back into range to plunge a pilfered arrow into the knight's lesser armored armpit._

 _Gauldfrey gasped in pain before swinging his sword to the side, catching Bubol in the nose and sending him sliding away. Bubol scrambled to his feet, hand grazing the corpse of the Uruk he'd pilfered as he ignored the sudden flooding of blood in his nostrils from the large gash which appeared on his nose._

 _Gauldfrey pulled out the arrow with his free arm, wincing as he stood. Gripping his sword in both hands, the Knight turned just as the Uruk finished loading another arrow into the crossbow. He charged him, not giving the Uruk enough time to fire, instead the attacker was forced to use the crossbow to block the quick slash of the Knight's sword. Bubol slid out of Gauldfrey's view, stumbling backwards as the Knight immediately spun to face him. The Human charged again, blade drawn, as the Uruk tried steadying the crossbow as he stumbled back._

 _That's when it happened, an arrow was loosed which sailed downward immediately. Whether it was through luck, or by some inherent skill, the arrow slid through the tiniest of divides between armor on the knight's foot. It traveled through the flesh and bone before the tip traveled out the back of his heel into the wood ground below, essentially pinning the knight in place. But the knight was still in motion, causing the bolt to dig into gristle in a most horrible manner and throw his momentum off as it was yanked out of the ground._

 _Bubol saw his chance and capitalized as the Knight barreled wildly towards him, ducking under a wild swing of the defender's blade, Bubol brought the crossbow's sharpened prod swinging up under his helmet and through his jaw. Gauldfrey came to a stop almost immediately as blood filled his mouth, free hand flying towards the crossbow to attempt to pull it out. As he did so, Bubol drew another one of the bowman's arrows he'd pilfered before promptly burying it in the small slot in the Knight's faceplate._

 _As Gauldfrey went limp on his weapon, Bubol made sure to twist the embedded arrow side to side as grotesque sounds echoed within the dead man's helmet "Nice shiny set ya got there, tark. Gonna have me lot's o' fun with it, I will!"_

 _He continued this type of mocking even as heavy footsteps preceded the arrival of Stakuga, who grumbled at the sight as he stalked over._

 _"Oi boss! Take a nice long look at this little meatsack," Bubol said whilst twisting the arrow a bit more "gave me a bit o' trouble but he dies like all else-"_

 _Bubol halted as a large hand wrapped around his throat and dragged him off the ground into the air, losing the grip on his new toy in the process. Captain Stakuga brought him face to face with him and snarled "You were supposed to rally the troops, you worm! Take it with force instead o' all this prancing about shrakh."_

 _Despite his position, Bubol grew a sick smile "I made em' weep blood in the end, didn't I?"_

 _Stakuga grimaced, gritting his teeth as several more Uruks arrived to view the scene._

 _"By the Dark Lord," one chuckled as he kicked one of the bowmen corpses to the side "Little Bubol did all dis?"_

 _"Stupid tarks didn't know what hit 'em!"_

 _"I see a keg 'o grog in the near future lads!"_

 _Stakuga turned back to Bubol, whose grin only stretched further as the impressed Uruks began mentioning his assured promotion "Well Cappie? Ain't we got a fort to storm?"_

 _The Captain dropped Bubol, then turned and began walking away "Just don't go risking a push, grab some boys and follow orders next time ya dumb glob."_

 _Bubol only cackled as he reached for the still pervasive stab wound in his torso, applying pressure as he got back to his feet and went looking for his sword. After picking it up, sunlight was reflected into his eye. He glanced to theshiny corpse of Gauldfrey and sheathed his sword before walking over. Reaching down, he took hold of the crossbow still lodged in the knight's jaw before tearing it out. He looked over the crossbow, humming to himself in amusement._

 **~Present Day~**

"-but Bubby didn't stop there. He tried out his little bow and figured out he was pretty good wit' it. Said it was as easy as pointing it where he wanted the arrows ta go." Krimp continued speaking, fondly reciting the story he'd heard many times before.

"For someone who supposedly wasn't there," Weiss folded her arms over her stomach, the Uruk's tale giving her a sick feeling in her gut "that was quite the detailed little backstory."

"Well whenever I used to go questionin' Bubby's methods, he'd always go bringin' it up again." Krimp admitted before scratching his head "Guess you guys ain't good enough friends wit' 'im yet, but one day I'm sure he'll be tellin' it ta you too! Trust me, the tale only gets better the more times he tells it."

"I seriously doubt that."

"No its true!" Krimp glanced to the side and sighed fondly "After that bout, Bubby used 'is newfound archer skills to become the most legendary Crossbow wielder in all of the dark lord's armies! Warchief even had him train other archers, he was that good!

"So what happened to him?" Blake asked suddenly, causing the Uruk to pause and tilt his head at her "The way you described him in the story, its familiar but that wasn't the exact Uruk my team and I fought."

The massive figure groaned as a particularly bad thought hit him, and he tried chuckling through it, but for once his laugh seemed strained.

"Yeah, he got a bit sick. But he got better!" Krimp covered up quickly "Better than he was, yes. And then after that-"

"Wait-wait-wait," Weiss interrupted quickly before he could avoid the subject "By sick, you mean the stuff growing on him?"

The Uruk gave a slow nod.

"Well you can't exactly just skip over something like that-"

"He tried wearin' that Knight's armor!" Krimp seemed to blurt out as his face relaxed again

"Well I'm sure that's an interesting tale but you can't just-"

"It was! You gots no idea how funny it was seein' him stumble about in all that heavy stuff." he chuckled at the memory as Weiss grimaced in annoyance once more.

"Krimp," Blake tried to get back to something useful "try to focus on one th-"

"He turned the stuff into arrows, worked mighty find they did!"

"That's it!"

Blake glanced to the side as Weiss stood straight and marched towards the door before throwing it open, she then spun towards the Uruk and jabbed a finger in his direction "You. Get up. We're taking you to Ozpin."

"Didn't the doctor say Ozpin's been increasingly busy recently?" Blake brought up

"There's a monster wandering his campus and interacting with his students without his knowledge." Weiss stated as she gestured for Krimp to stand "I'm positive he'll consider it a much more pressing matter than whatever seems to be holding him up a the moment."

"We gonna make a new friend!?" the massive one chuckled as he stood

The heiress's eye twitched before she gave an incredibly forced smile "Y-Yep," she gritted out "He's called Mr. Ozpin, and he's _really_ nice."

"Oh boy!" Krimp exclaimed as he let Weiss usher him out into the hall "Does he like making friends too?"

* * *

 **~City of Vale~**

 _Some time has passed since beginning my hunt, but my mark does not seem to grow closer. I know she resides somewhere within the castle in the distance, but the defenses must be prime. Not even counting the number of semi-trained warriors stalking its halls. I've decided to get the lay of the land whilst waiting for an opportune time to infiltrate its walls and drag my mark, kicking and screaming from within the egg she cowers within. Egg? Why egg? Nest needs eggs this time of year. Maybe later, after completing nest. I've been slowly fashioning one in the corner edge of a building using bits of newspapers stolen from primitive man-things. Oh the comforts it shall provide when complete-_

The bird suddenly stopped and smashed its head against the wall it was poking at, an angry caw came out as it backed away in pain. This damned body is even worse than that mental case's! As an older Uruk, Gundza could handle holding back maddening thoughts and destructive impulses by way of simple experience. The sudden overwhelming urge to build a nest and find a partner to raise eggs with? Utter torture.

When he'd jumped in the first time it was for practice, didn't seem to bad. The idea of controlling a body capable of flight was too alluring to let the thing go. But after a few good hours he'd found that, unlike Gimub, the thoughts were more dangerous than the memories. Having to clutch his head and grunt through the mad Uruk's eighty-seven years of warfare and mental declination was shrakh, but at least it died down after an hour of intense headaches. He had the suspicion that whatever this was wasn't going away, instincts were an entirely different ball park. The Uruk-controlled bird turned back to the wall and continued poking at it, trying not to let the stubborn animal's desires overwhelm him again.

 _Need new body, hopefully human's, they never listen to superior instincts when it matters and can hardly survive past age seventy without getting themselves killed. If I keep letting instincts get in the way of the mission I might forget my intended purpose until after the little ones leave the nest!_

Gundza paused, tilting his host's head up towards the journal he'd been trying to keep and frowning at the indecipherable scratches and grooves he'd put in the wall.

How is it that that walking insult of an Uruk Krimp managed to figure out how to write far before him?

Gundza left his semi-completed nest with the intention to let it rot like the disgusting thing it was. He'd flown over Vale several times, but he was more than willing to start walking the streets if it meant having a body less annoying. He could probably nab any of the worthless humans walking about down there, but the process with Gimub was quite notable. If one of their own just started clutching his head and grunting in the middle of the street, the others would surely take notice.

So one human off on their own who's not surrounded by potential witnesses. A little more tricky, but he'd be able to stand slinking about in a homeless Tark for some time if it meant getting his mar-

Opportunity presented itself far faster than he had imagined. Near a large building with a long line in front of it, there was a single Tark in a black and red outfit stepping out into an alley through a side door. The alley was on the other side of the building away from the crowd, making it the perfect place for a little acquisition.

Adjusting his red tie for a moment, the man glanced down to the street at the end of the alleyway as he reached into his pocket for a pack of cigarettes. In the midst of lighting one up the sudden thud of something hitting a nearby trash can made him nearly drop his lighter. He quickly gripped it before it could fall to the floor, and readjusted his bowler hat before glancing towards the source of the sound. The man stepped closer to the trash can, having to slowly lower his red shades to get a better look at the wounded bird which now lay on top of it.

"What the-?" the man stopped talking when he realized the area around him was getting darker, and he immediately glanced up just in time to see something descend on top of him.

 _Hey Mitch, mind explaining why we found this in the locker yesterday during clean-up?_

 _Sir, you can't possibly think I would just-_

 _You've been outta rehab for a week, kid, you really wanna go back this soon?!_

 _But I-! I didn't leave anything... You got no proof Jun-Gack!_

 _I took a chance on you, I don't think you wanna start making both of us regret it any time soon._

Gundza coughed as he stood, clutching his new head as a tidal wave of information began rushing through his skull at once. Okay... he'd done this before... it wouldn't...

 _Maybe if you'd pay on time you wouldn't be in this situation._

 _Junior's been cheating me! I don't know how you expect me to be able to do anything if he keeps giving us these wages!_

 _Dude, my house is like twice the size of yours and we're on the same goddamn payroll, don't try pinning this on the boss._

 _Well I'm sorry I can't call my cousin up and ask her if she'd loan me a place to crash._

 _You know that's not how it is, maybe if you'd just stop hitting the Gresh Leaves you'd probably be able to afford a condominium instead of that rat-nest you're living in._

 _I told you I kicked that._

He pulled at the tie around his neck, grunting as he stumbled past the garbage can. A chirp made him squint at the wounded bird he'd abandoned, which had been shaken onto its bad side when he bumped into the can.

"Quiet," Gundza growled towards it as he tried to massage the sickening throbbing in his head "too loud."

He had been lucky that he was far enough away from the street to not be assailed by the sounds of those wandering the streets, as his head seemed to pulse with each new noise. He squinted and tried to focus on getting through the flurry of memories that assailed him, another pained chirp causing him to raise a balled fist towards his former body.

 _What a sack a shit you turned out to be._

 _Don't touch me, you creep!_

 _Pay me by tomorrow or I'm callin' the boys down to kick your ass outta here!_

"Just sayin', coulda picked us something better."

That voice caused Gundza to pause before he could crush the damned bird, the various memories of his new body dying down as he glanced up towards the street to see two figures walk by. They were dressed like some of those white fang grunts he'd seen before, but that voice did not belong to a faunus. Gundza tried to ignore the pain in his head as he stepped closer towards the duo with disbelief marring his new human features, his own memories coming to the forefront as he stumbled forwards. He could see beneath their masks, one had a specific set of sharp teeth he'd only seen on one other being. But how did they-?

"Keep quiet, we're almost there." the larger figure said as he walked past his partner, who gave a sigh of annoyance before following behind.

Gundza needed to support himself with the wall of the nearby building as he poked his head out and searched for the two, finding them walking past the line in front of the building towards the two bouncers in front. The people in line openly tried to back away from what they seemed to assume were White Fang members, the bouncers raising their two rifles. It seemed they wanted into the establishment, an establishment Gundza's new body seemed to work at.

Mitch was his name, and from the memories Gundza had thrashed through, he was quite the disappointment. He had said he was going for a regular smoke break, but Gundza knew that within that pack were not the little white sticks these tarks apparently used instead of smoking pipes. They instead were wrapped up Gresh Leaves, which were apparently a more illegal narcotic, disguised as these cigarette things.

Even as Gundza slinked back into the alleyway to grip onto his pounding head, he found himself growling at the lack of will shown by this new body. Reminded himself too much of the many Uruk Soldiers who lost any semblance of respectability because their addiction to Grog or flesh outgrew their devotion to their superiors. Even now he could feel the body ache for the mix-mash of chemicals inside the little box. The Tark had dropped it when Gundza had jumped in, but the Uruk found little use for it...

...addiction was beneath him.

An Uruk's will should be stronger than this drug-addled failure, and a loyal servant to the Dark Lord and Warchief would not be swayed by the weakness of a human.

The sounds of gunfire came from beyond the alley, and Gundza groaned as he leaned out. The humans in the line were running away, some on the ground writhing or still, the two bouncers amongst them. The two figures in the White Fang outfits had already entered. Groaning, Gundza turned around and made his way to the side entrance Mitch had exited for his little smoke, unwilling to lose sight of them for too long...

...after all, how did two warmongers infiltrate a human city like this all on their own?

He had the excuse of having such a useful, albeit incessantly annoying, power. They would need something similar, and the Storm having access to a power such as that would not be good for his dearest master. If the Grand Shaman could infiltrate this place, then the Warchief would need to be made privy of such a thing. He'd still focus on capturing the white haired cur who dared lay a finger on that of the master's blood, but this was a more immediately pressing concern.

The side door led the pained Uruk-Man inside the building, where his pain nearly tripled as the overwhelming sound became much more noticeable. A club... this place was a club, not the fun kind you could kill stuff with, but where idiotic tarks go to drink, dance and all around make asses of themselves... just like an Uruk feast.

This would be the first club Gundza ever entered, and already he wanted each and every one of them burned to the ground. Only humans would consider this excessive and insulting monstrosity of a sound to be a proper substitute for a hearty drinking song with the lads. They were both meaningless in the long-run, but at least the drinking song didn't make Gundza want to gouge his eyes out with his own nails.

Another door presented itself, and despite it barely holding back the excessive noise, the Uruk was sure that the Warmongers were inside. He would not let noise and a headache deny him the chance to obtain information for the master, but despite repeating that to himself he found his hand pausing before it reached the door's handle. Every pulse of that damn music brought forth more of Mitch's memories, each one reminding Gundza of how happy he'd be when he'd be able to gut the weakling and find a better body later.

 _Why can't you just let me be what I want!_

 _I can't let you end up like your mother._

Weak, weak, weak... Gundza gritted his teeth and shot his hand forward towards the handle again.

 _Son... w-what did you do?!_

Another pulse of music made Gundza's teeth dig into his lip until he tasted blood, but he refused to be held back. Gripping the handle, Gundza charged through the door only for the noise to double by nearly ten times.

 _I just wanted to be..._

 _Honestly son, what did you expect to happen?_

And then it was gone...

The music that had been making his head try to smash itself against the inside of his skull died out almost immediately, the overwhelming music repaced by the screams of many humans. It was still loud, but much more manageable than that overwhelming shrakh was. Gundza could already feel the headache dying down with the fading sound of the obnoxious music, and immediately realized he had been gripping tightly to the guard railing of the catwalk he'd found himself on.

As his mind cleared of Mitch's scattered memories, the previously overbearing sound of inconceivable drudgery were replaced with more tark screams, a much more soothing sound than what these foolish humans considered music.

Pulling himself to his feet, Gundza located the source of the screams quite easily. Below the catwalk was what he recognized as the club's dance floor, in the midst stood the source of the humans' fear.

Standing with one of his feet planted on the chest of a groaning bouncer was one of the two disguised Warmongers, his partner glaring at the humans around them with folded arms. In one hand was the downed bouncer's rifle, pointed towards another section of catwalk where musical equipment was set up. Said equipment was producing smoke and sparks from bullet holes which peppered the equipment's sides.

The smaller figure lowered the bouncer's rifle and glanced around him at the fleeing partygoers, scattered among them were more bouncers who were trying to make their way through them towards the intruders.

"Just had to shoot the damn thing." the bigger intruder muttered as he shook his head "Don't you have a thing for music?"

"I have a thing for good music, Oggie." his partner said as he tossed the gun to the ground and rubbed one of his ears "But that shrakh was NOT music. You should be thanking me for sparing your ears that travesty. 'Sides, isn't it nice to talk to each other normally instead of yellig it over that garbage?"

"Would've been nice to bag the tark without alerting all of these puny bootlickers." Oggie muttered as the bouncers surrounded them.

The little pet name had all but confirmed it in Gundza's mind, these two were part of the Great Shaman's Warmongers. The mere thought of them made the Uruk-possessed human's jaws grind together, the many memories of having to deal with the Shaman's underlings conflicting with curiosity of why they were here. He knew who these ones were as well.

Growling, Gundza stood straight, smacking the side of his head whenever a stray thought of Mitch's arose. Holding onto the guardrail with his other hand, Gundza moved along the catwalk as he watched the bouncers train all their weapons on the duo.

As he moved, he noticed the figure crouched behind the damaged musical devices. One of the bouncers who wore a large bear mask atop his head, from Mitch's memories this man was apparently the practitioner of music in this establishment. If Gundza wasn't busy dealing with the Warmongers and the headache at the same time, he would toss that lowly bastard off the catwalk for blasting such shrakh in his ears.

"Can you grunts seriously not go a week without having someone blast their way into this place?"

Gundza's eyes were drawn to a taller tark approaching the circle of bouncers, flanked by two smaller females.

"Boss," one of said bouncers glanced back at the taller Tark "I know I stuck around after the last two times something like this happened, but can I just mention that I wanna renegotiate my contract if this becomes a regular-"

"Shut up and keep your eyes on these two."

"Yeah... because I was really planning on letting them just screw around willy-nilly after the last time something like this happened."

"Junior?"

Oggie's voice interrupted the taller tark before he could retort, drawing his attention to the Warmonger.

"An info broker if my knowledge is apt." the disguised Uruk said before glancing down at his partner "I must say that him coming to us was perhaps a positive result of your itchy trigger finger."

"See? I'm as trustworthy as ever big guy." said partner responded, making Oggie groan

"Yo what the hell are you guys doing?" another bouncer shouted "We ain't got no problems with the W.F. you don't-!"

"They aren't White Fang." Junior interrupted him

"Wuh-but boss-!"

"You don't have to be in this line of business as long as me to recognize that goons who dress like one group but take actions they normally wouldn't don't really go together."

"Enough banter," Oggie stepped forward "if you really are the Junior we're looking for than there's nothing more that needs to be said."

Gundza squinted his eyes as he watched the larger Uruk pull something that had been slung over his shoulder, he hadn't noticed it earlier but it turned out to be a large, empty burlap sack. He tossed it to the ground in front of the club's owner.

"Get in."

Junior and his henchmen all glanced at each other in disbelief, even the females sharing an unimpressed look. And when he failed to comply with demands the smaller Uruk stepped forward "Listen man, I gotta say my partner here's giving you a pretty generous offer. See we're going to be walking out of this place with you firmly contained within this little sack here, and he's giving you the chance to just hop on in and let us walk outta here no problem."

He shrugged before leaning back and glancing at those surrounding them "Course, I would've preferred immediately going in guns blazing, beat all these little punks into a pulp and maybe get my hands around the throats of those pretty little dolls ya got behind you there-"

He paused to whistle at girls who merely gave each other equally unamused glances before looking back at him

"But if we can just settle this matter quickly with you surrendering immediately, hoppin' into this sack here and having ya bootlickers here run off with they tails tucked firmly between their legs," Oggie gave a single, deep chuckle before his frown returned and he unfolded his arms "that'd probably be less hassle for all of us."

Gundza growled, this was how he remembered most interactions with the Storm's Elite going. He could already tell where this was going, from the looks on the faces of the club owner and those he employed, they seemed nowhere near inclined to follow the Warmonger's orders.

"Yeah, I don't know who the hell you guys think you are..." Junior stated as one of his henchmen walked over and handed him a large metal bat "but don't think I'm going anywhere easily. 'Sides, I still got to pay you back for this property damage."

As the tall tark hefted the metal bat onto his shoulder, Gundza heard the smaller Uruk snicker a bit.

"Good," Krosh said as he took his hand from his mouth "I wouldn't have it any other way."

* * *

 **AN: Welp, this is definitely the longest amount of time its taken me to finish a chapter hands down. I don't really have an excuse for this, but I can only say that due to all the things I had to remove from this one that the next shouldn't take nearly as long as this one did. The end of last year was kinda hectic for me, as it seems to have been for a lot of people. I'm not gonna say that it excuses my lack of update for nearly two months, but I just hope it provides some context.**

 **This chapter I just had to focus a bit more on another Warmonger who must have been the more memorable of the few I've encountered over my time in SOM. Krosh was a tricky bastard who often surprised me by how thoroughly he could destroy me even after overpowering myself. I definitely changed more about him than I should have for the story's sakes, but he's still the same annoyingly effective Uruk who I had to deal with on my little campaign against his boss...who we'll get to a lot later.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoy, any and all criticisms positive or negative are welcomed in full so leave a review if you are so inclined to do. Follow or Favorite at your leisure and I will see you all in the next installment of The Dreamer Gate.**

 **Next Chapter: The Shadow**


	7. Chapter 7: The Shadow

**Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of The Rings, the Middle-Earth universe, Shadow of Mordor or RWBY.**

 **This work will contain moments of intense violence, dark and dirty humor, and canonical divergences.**

* * *

 **The Shadow**

"Hey Krimp, we still on for the game later today?"

"Sorry Tenny, somethin' came up and I ain't got a clue if I'll be able to make it."

"Bummer dude."

"Oh, but Cena wanted to go see it, maybe ya could bring er with ya and use my ticket."

"Woah really?"

"I know ya been tryin' to break the ice Tenny, maybe this is just whatcha need!"

"Thanks man, I'll tell ya how it goes at the club later if you're out by then."

"Just bein' a friend pally!" Krimp waved back as the student he'd been talking to rushed off, once out of sight the giant turned back to the two girls he'd been walking with.

Weiss had pinched her nose in annoyance as her teammate looked on in apprehensive uncertainty. This had to be the eighth time the trio had been halted in their trip to Ozpin's office by some random student who needed to speak with Krimp about something. And they weren't all unfamiliar faces either, which had to have been the most unsettling part about it. Russel needed some secondary confirmation about the smell of a new gel he'd been trying and couldn't trust anyone else to give him an honest answer, Coco and Velvet had asked about a sight-seeing trip they'd been planning on taking the Uruk on tomorrow, Yatsuhashi had been wondering why he'd been late for their daily meditating session, and Nora had shown up twice asking for a rematch in some inane rivalry the two had apparently formed over who was the _bestest friendly friend_ on campus.

It was utterly asinine, how were they supposed to get to Ozpin's office if they couldn't go twelve feet without one of Krimp's numerous friends crawling out of the woodwork? Not even Yang had this happen to her when they traveled between classes or to Vale, and she was known for being the social butterfly of the group! Weiss was now determined to properly apologize to the blonde-haired bruiser after they rescued her from those savages and properly educated them through a classic Team RWBY beating. She had made a fuss of the elder sibling's inclination for excessive extroversive tendencies, but even dragging the Team to the occasional party didn't compare to being assailed by an army of associates. Truly the heiress didn't exactly realize what horrific levels of tedious annoyance the REAL extreme brought in its wake.

"Oh hey guys! You finished your chat already?"

The voice was none other than the leader of Team JNPR, Jaune Arc. He was carrying several books with who many considered the rising Champion of Vale, Pyrrha Nikos, who gave a matching smile as the duo approached the trio.

Weiss tried to look as if she wasn't annoyed by another detour, she had missed their friends during the trip and had genuinely wished to reconnect with them as soon as possible, but getting sidetracked so many times in such a short span of time had to be horrid for her health.

But she turned to the duo with a casual smile gracing her lips as she tried looking nonchalant "Oh hey guys, yeah we just needed to settle a few things."

Jaune shared a look with his teammate before raising an eyebrow "You sure? You had this look on your face while you guys were shoving him into your room, ya know the kinda face that says: This can't be happening, somebody handle this before I explode."

Weiss blinked, then immediately scoffed "I don't know what you're talking about, we just needed to have a...friendly chat."

"Oh she said it!" Krimp clapped

"Trust me Weiss, I've gotten pretty accurate at reading your annoyed expressions... for obvious reasons, heh heh." Jaune admitted sheepishly "It got us pretty worried."

"Jaune and Nora spent some time guessing what the issue was." Pyrrha said with a humored little laugh "It may have gotten a _bit_ exaggerated."

"So now I need to know which one of us was closer on the money."

"There was a misunderstanding," Blake interjected as she folded her arms and glanced at the disguised Uruk "we called Krimp while on our trip and he said something we may have misinterpreted. We'd been on edge since then and needed to clear it up with him once we returned."

"Damn, that means Nora was closer than I was!" Jaune pouted "She thought maybe someone had called you claiming to be the big guy over here and lured you guys back for a ransom or something."

The monochrome duo stared at him for some time until Blake said "Wait...how is that the closest?"

"Look, your friend's gotten us into some wacky scenarios since we met him, I wouldn't put a hostage situation out of the picture."

"Like that time yesterday," Pyrrha recalled as she pressed a finger to her lips in thought "when we found out that all of the first-year students had their weapons stolen and Krimp and Coco led an investigation revealing Sky to be the culprit."

"Or the time-"

"Yes yes I'm sure it was all very bond-building." the heiress interrupted before gesturing down the hall "Krimp here was just about to accompany us to Ozpin's office to give our report."

"Oh yeah, what happened out there anyway?" the Arc asked "I didn't get much from Fox about what happened so..."

Weiss and Blake glanced to each other for a moment as Krimp just hummed behind them, finally the Faunus stepped forward "We had a run in with some raiders, we chased them off but they'd gotten away with some White Fang captives. They'd apparently been hunting them down and were raiding settlements along the way."

"Odd, usually brigands like that stay away from other criminals." Pyrrha noted "And the White Fang aren't exactly a small organization."

Blake nodded "We wanted to rescue their prisoners, and we did but...their Captain was...difficult."

"He pulled a fast one on Yang," Weiss said with a weary pause "and when Ruby tried to help her she ended up getting hurt. We were still dealing with his goons. By the time we found Ruby, he and Yang were gone."

Things were quiet for a moment, until Jaune spoke up "Do...either of you know what exactly happened to Yang?"

"We're hoping Ruby saw something before she was rendered unconscious." The Faunus pointed out, "That's really all we can hope for in terms of leads."

"Red's a fighter!" Krimp piped up, raising both his fists with a grin "So's her sis! Neither of 'em would go down without a fight! Yang's probably a'waitin' for us to go get her!"

"Yeah..." Jaune gave a small smile at the Uruk's contagious optimism "she probably is."

"Anyway, we should probably get these books back to the dorm." Pyrrha suggested as she hefted the texts in her arms for emphasis "We should tell the others what's going on."

"Right," her team leader agreed before nodding to Weiss and Blake "good luck with your report guys. We'll go visit Ruby together once this all squared out, kay?"

Soon the black and white duo were watching the others leave, optimism fading with them...except for Krimp who still oozed positive vibes.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Blake spoke up suddenly, causing Weiss and the disguised Uruk to look at her. She glanced up to the hooded giant "You know we didn't call, and we didn't tell them about the Uruk situation, so why didn't you speak up about it?"

It had been a concern to her during their conversation with the two JNPR members, Krimp could've derailed their conversation so many times yet kept quiet and happy for the most part.

"Well I wouldn't want ya to feel bad about havin' those muddled memories. Wouldn't that be embarrassing?" Krimp tilted his head to the side before shaking it "What kind of friend would I be if I embarrassed my buddies?"

"Just let him do his thing," Weiss placed a hand on her shoulder and nodded down the hall "come on...maybe we can get to Ozpin before-"

"Hey Krimp!" said yet another random student

"Just why?!"

* * *

 _Where am I?_

The sounds of gunfire and explosions were beginning to sound clearer and clearer.

 _What's happening?"_

His vision cleared more, to the point where he could more easily see the ceiling of the club he worked at.

 _Why can't I feel anything?_

"Ah," came a voice he didn't recognize "so you're finally awake."

 _...why are my lips moving?_

Gundza had to roll his eyes at the strait of bad luck he was having so far. Not only did his new body turn out to be that of some loser junkie's, not only did he just so happen to run into two Warmongers not minutes afterward, but apparently his body's former host wasn't as much of a mental push-over as his bad habits had implied.

The Uruk-possessed man was currently hiding behind the destroyed DJ booth along with that damn disc-jockey in the bear mask. He could hear the sounds of battle coming from the dance floor below, but with his current luck there wasn't a chance he'd put himself in the direct view of the Shaman's Elite. He'd planned to just sit there and wait till the Uruks below had what they'd came for and left, maybe sneak back out to the alley if they started destroying the building.

But then Mitch started talking.

Gundza had hoped that the human would be mentally weak enough to keep suppressed during his time using him. Gimub was loyal enough to keep quiet whilst borrowing his body, Gundza didn't want to have to deal with some weak, addicted mess of a man on top of the aching crave for Gresh leaves this body had gotten used to.

 _W-why can't I move my body?!_

"Keep it quiet tark I still haven't gotten over the headaches." the Uruk growled out as a spray of bullets flew over the sound system and peppered the walls.

 _Who are you?!_

"What'd I just say about being quiet?"

The Captain took a moment to glance over the sound system and saw pretty much what he'd expected. Half the bouncers unconscious on the ground or wedged into the walls of the club while the remaining ones struggled to keep from joining them. The only ones keeping from immediately getting pulverized were Junior and the twins, and from the way things were it was obvious that wasn't going to last for too long.

A stumbling bouncer lunged for his rifle, only to fall as Krosh leaped onto his back feet first. The unfortunate man fell to his hands and knees as the Uruk planted his boot on the back of his head and gestured to the side, then leaped off as Melanie slashed at him with one of those blade heels of hers. Some ways behind them Junior was backing up as he readied yet another missile volley and his goons ran past him towards the other Warmonger.

Ogthrak looked more pissed than his partner, who was just chewing the scenery with all those jumps of his. The larger Uruk swung those large arms of his and batted the unfortunate underlings away like flour sacks. Turning back to Junior, Oghtrak snarled before being engulfed in another explosion. The Bar's owner didn't seem convinced, and raised his batzooka again as the larger Uruk charged out of the resulting cloud.

Yeah, that wasn't going to last for long.

 _Why are we under attack?_

Before Gundza could scold the weakling for speaking up, the sound of a gun being loaded drew his attention back to the DJ... who had pulled a damn SMG from out of nowhere. The possessed-man rolled his eyes as he patted himself down.

"Hey tark," Gundza grumbled as he noticed a certain lack of something "where's your weapon?"

 _I-I-_

A blast from the dance floor prompted the Uruk to raise his voice "Where?!"

 _I think I dropped it...in the alley..._

The Captain could feel his eyelids twitch, "When this is over Tark...I promise that I'll erase that disappointing, rancid waste of a life of yours from this world."

 _WHO EVEN ARE YOU!?_

Before Gundza could scold him for being too loud, the DJ opened fire on the assailants and caused Gundza's eyes to go wide "No, you filth! Don't draw attention to us-!"

He didn't even finish before an unconscious bouncer sailed into the DJ and sent the Bear-headed man stumbling off his feet as the sound of footsteps climbing up to them became more audible. Suddenly Krosh leaped atop the destroyed mixer and chuckled at the tow of them. Going white, the Captain immediately tried scrambling to his feet while the DJ raised his rifle. The Warmonger closed distance quickly, tearing the weapon out of the panicked record-spinner's hands and swinging it into his oversized mask. The headwear was dented upon contact, and the DJ tumbled over the side of his booth as the Storm Elite turned around.

Gundza had gotten to his feet and was running away when the rifle slammed into his back and knocked him off his feet. He careened into the ground hard enough to renew the headaches that had just started dying down, he rolled onto his side and spotted Krosh charging him with that annoyingly familiar grin.

"Wait!" the possessed bouncer shouted as he tried scrambling back "Hold on you maggot! Don't-"

His complaints were silenced when the Warmonger's boot connected with his jaw and immediately rendered him unconscious.

* * *

 **Vacuo- The Desert Tower**

Hasty footsteps echoed down the halls as Ishga raced past the many Uruks and captives walking them. The Black Gate Garrison Uruks would glare beneath their helmets or over their shoulders as the Red Uruk darted by, growls and scowls accompanying ever single glance. Ishga had no time for past grievances, and kept his destination in mind as he tried to steady his panicked breaths.

Coming across a door larger than the rest, Ishga skidded to a halt before the two defenders guarding it. Bearing the red color of their Warchief, both glanced down at the Hunter before glancing to one another.

"I need to speak with the master." Ishga stated over his uneven breathing.

"Warchief's asleepin'" one of the defenders grunted out

"Said he wanted his sleep," the other said with a casual gesture off his spear "ya know, on account of the stress keeping him awake the last week or so."

"It pleases me to hear the master's doin' better, but we NEED him awake now." Ishga insisted before reaching past them towards the handle, only for two halberds to block his path. The hunter blinked before glaring at the two defenders.

"Sorry there Cap'n," the one on the left grunted "I ain't gonna be the Uruk who fails my Warchief's requests."

"Are you two really goin' to do this now?" Ishga muttered before backing away from them.

"Tugog says he wants sleep no matter what," one said with a chuckle as he raised his shield "so if we kills the one trying to interrupt those orders-"

"-and erase a weaklin' relic like ya'self in the process." the other raised his as well

"Then we might just be seein' a promotion for our act of loyalty."

Ishga sighed and reached for one of his spears as two halberd tips were directed towards him "You idiots, we don't have time for this shrakh!"

"You don't have time," one emphasized as the two began advancing on him "we gots all the time we need."

Nearby, several passing Slavers halted their haul of tarks to watch as the two defenders started circling the hunter.

"I'm going to feed your corpses to the dark beasts for this!" Ishga growled

"There will be no need for that."

The defenders paused along with Ishga before turning their attention back to the now-open door, where Tugog himself stood sporting a genuine smile. Ishga immediately pushed past one of the distracted defenders towards his "Master! Thank the Dark Lord, I need you to come with me!" he stepped closer and gestured down the hall "Hork's garrison have-"

"I know."

The Bloodstorm stopped at that, the even tone of his usually on-edge master forced him to slow down and take a closer look. The Dreamer seemed rejuvenated, almost like different Uruk in comparison to the jittery mes he'd been for the last few months. Shaking his head, Ishga stepped closer "But they've got Dushrat-"

"I'm well aware, servant." Tugog said with a sigh as he stepped past him "My advisor seems to have angered the Black Gate's Garrison, I suppose you've come for my aid in diffusing the matter."

"I-I mean I- Yes," Ishga said as he followed behind "they've got this asinine idea that he's been conspiring."

"So that's why..." The Warchief said as he walked "I suppose that means the Executioner's already begun sharpening his blade, how did this come to be exactly?"

Ishga sighed as he began recounting.

 **An hour prior...**

He and his brother had returned to Tarz the Surgeon's little lab in the tower, accompanied by Skog and his two lackeys. It had taken a bit longer than necessary because the Corruptor had insisted they wait for Muggrish to finish disposing of the slave they were interrogating, which was also prolonged by Skog's specific instructions on how to kill him. When they got back, Ishga was pleased to find Skak still talking with his weapon in the corner. The muscle-brained fool had a bad tendency of wandering off, often prompting Ishga to track him down.

The two locked eyes as he entered, and Skak wasted no time in raising his weapon and pointing towards it "Blood-Axe says this ain't a good idea."

"I haven't even said what we're here for." the Blood-Storm pointed out as his brother pushed past him

"Don't make it no less of a shrakh idea, and Blood-Axe knows his shrakh."

Ishga just sighed as he stood off to the side of the room, looking away only when Tarz walked over to him "I send ya daft fools to go make a few portals and ya come back with a band of Reds?"

"It was my brother's idea." Ishga pointed out as the Surgeon rolled his eyes "You seem more agitated than you were when we was testin' the gates."

"Because the worm ya left me with wouldn't shut up!" Tarz growled as he gestured to Skak, who was in the process of holding a quite one-sided conversation with his weapon "Can see why no one else wants 'im around, so why exactly haven't you killed 'im and been done with it?"

"Family matters, Tarz." Ishga pointed out "You wouldn't get it."

"Ready."

His brother's voice drew the hunter's gaze towards Maku, who had drawn up a dreamer gate on Tarz's board...right where the Surgeon's scrawled writing previously was.

Tarz choked back a shocked gasp as two hours worth of work were wrote over in less than a minute, both hands squeezing his own head in disbelief.

"Okay," Maku said as the gate began opening "once you guys get there. You need to ask to be taken to Ratlug, he's our top researcher and should be able to make a better case for you to present to the Grand Shaman."

"Oi," Skog said hesitantly as he frowned at the gate "I thought you was gonna' help us learn about the Gates and what not?"

"I'm sending you to someone who can help," the Warmonger grunted "Ratlug helps ya talk with the Grand Shaman, he approves, then you guys got Storm support."

"Why can't we just present this to him ourselves?"

"Because if you stand before the Grand Shaman with no one to vouch for ya, he'll end up havin' you and your fellows over there eat each other in front of him for a quick giggle."

"He wouldn't actually do that, would he?" Torz spoke up from behind Muggrish

"Thought you was s'posed to be smart?" the Corruptor grumbled before turning back to the gate "Fine, we talk to this Ratlug runt and get back on track after makin' it through the Shaman."

Maku nodded and stood to the side as the three red-themed Uruks approached the Gate. One by one they all ventured inside as Maku took out that stolen scroll of his and began fiddling with it. Once they were gone, he smudged away some off the symbols around the gate and it immediately sealed behind them.

"Okay, now that that matter's settled." he turned back to his brother and the Surgeon "We can get back to work."

"You just erased all of my writings!" Tarz finally broke free from his stupor.

The Warmonger turned to look at the remnants of the writings, mostly obscured by the remains of the dreamer gate. He shrugged and turned back to them "Don'tcha got any of that stuff memorized?"

"Course not, ya damned fool! That's what the board was for!"

"Blood-Axe says ya shouldn't a let em go." Skak spoke up as Tarz angrily walked towards Maku.

"Not now, Skak." Ishga muttered as he watched the Surgeon square-up with his brother

"He also says we should leave while they work this out." the axe-wielding Uruk stood and walked to Ishga's side "Let's go find some slaves to step on, eh?"

As Ishga turned to rebut the larger Uruk the door to the lab was suddenly thrown open once again. As the occupants turned towards the door, a single Uruk was tossed inside. Even without seeing their face, the distinct helmet and body shape immediately made Ishga's eyes go wide as other Uruks began stepping inside.

"Dushrat?" he muttered before jerking back as a foot pressed the Advisor to the floor.

"Yes," Dharg grumbled as he dug his heel into the Uruk's back "some of ours found him and his crew digging an escape route out of the lower tower. Right through the rock, using up our resources."

The other Uruks with the dark Captain bore the black marking which easily identified them as other members of the Black Gate Garrison.

"So he wanted a fall-back for when the humans came knocking, so what?" Ishga asked defensively, not liking where this line of dialogue was going at all.

"Despite the sheer gal he's shown for outright ignoring my master's will, we had planned on forgiving him after a small beating." the Hell-Hawk said as he removed his helmet, the amount of black blood leaking from Dushrat's mouth emphasizing just how 'small' his thrashing had actually been "Of course, we'd need one of his peers to corroborate with his tale, so we sought you lot out. But guess what we hear while's we were on the way in?"

Ishga glanced at Maku, who seemed thoroughly disinterested with the claims about to be placed forth "Oh do tell us, lapdogs, I'm sure it can't be any more of a waste of my time than what I'm expecting."

Dharg grumbled at his comment, but retained his smirk "Oh of course a Storm Boy like you would try actin' casual when caught conspiring."

"Conspiring!?" Ishga stepped forward

"Aaaannddd my time has been wasted," Maku rolled his eyes "congratulations."

"It just makes sense, don't it?" one of the Black Gate defenders spoke up from behind the Hell-Hawk "Sendin boys to go chat up the Shaman while securin' an escape route for if ya little coup doesn't work."

"A coup?" the Blood-Storm stepped forward with a raised an eyebrow "Seriously?"

Ishga knew this was coming, the Black Gate's Garrison had been aiming for something like this for weeks now. The red loyalists had known the risk obviously, but they'd underestimated the Black Guards desire for prosecution.

"Figure Pigug's gonna give 'em the chop for such blatant rampancy." Dharg grunted as he dug his boot into Dushrat "Hopefully get the Warchief to go easy on you lot for this."

This is not what they needed now, any other time Ishga wouldn't give two shrakhs about the Advisor. He'd probably get promoted to his position with him dead, and if they were back in Mordor he'd probably be working with Skak to assassinate him to prove his worth. But here, with Hork and his underlings edging closer to hostilities, the Master needed all the Uruks he could get his hands on.

But what could he do to diffuse this scenario? The smug look of bloodlust in the eyes of the Garrison convinced him that any words he might speak would fall on deaf ears. Violence would naturally lead to even more escalation, as was the Uruk way, and one look at Maku's bored expression showed just how little his brother cared for the situation. He had more than enough inclination to believe that once they started Executing, things would just go downhill from there.

 **The Present...**

"And so you decided to call upon me." the Dreamer said as he glanced to his side at Ishga.

The two were standing upon a thick wood and metal platform that served as the central elevator of the Tower. Held aloft by chains and employing a good old weight and pulley system, the platform was often used to transport materials and Uruks up and down the Tower's many floors.

Tugog gave a nervous sigh, but kept that smile of his going throughout Ishga's little tale "You know they find me weak...unfit for my role."

"Don't matter, you just need to get Hork to calm 'em down boss." Ishga insisted "You know how his boys get when they start getting this way."

"I shall speak with him," the Warchief conceded before glancing at the hunter "but you may find the results of this chat wanting."

Ishga didn't have time to consider his master's words, as soon the platform reached their destination: the training area near the top of the tower. Appearing to be a slightly smaller structure jutting from this flat roof, the very top of the tower had been taken as a command center for Hork's captains, with his quarters residing at the very top. This area had probably once been a glorious looking courtyard with a scenic view of the tower below, but had been recently converted into a full on training arena by the Uruk-hai Occupants. The entire tower had gone through various renovations, with the slaves being put to use mining sandstone which was used to patch up the various holes in the structure which had formed over time. Catwalks now clung to the vast majority of the tower which, despite looking healthier than it probably had in centuries, still didn't seem capable of withstanding a concentrated attack.

But that was not what Tugog was here for, that scenario was a discussion for later. No, his goal were the crowd of Black Gate Garrison Uruks standing in a circle around a small wooden seat. Standing over that seat was none other than Hork's attack dog himself, Pigug the Executioner. Dragging a rock along his excessively thick sword as he glared at it through the eyeholes of that black and white metal helmet of his.

Cries for blood could be heard from the crowd, and Tugog could spot a large form moving within their command center. It had to be Hork, drawn to the sounds of an execution as expected. From the doors of that structure Dharg dragged a badly beaten Dushrat to the seat, it seemed the Advisor had regained his consciousness because he was now yelling at the Garrison soldiers around him.

"Release me you daft fools! I'm no traitor!" Dushrat cried out to the surrounding Uruks, pausing and leaning towards his Master once he saw him drawing closer with a captain at his side "Boss, boss please get me outta' here! They've gone mad I say, Mad in the head!"

"Strange," the Executioner said as he stepped in front of Dushrat, voice echoing inside his helmet as he tapped his blade against the ground "I expected you to be cowering as far away from this little execution as possible."

Tugog gave a nervous chuckle as the Garrison soldiers turned to him, their many taunts now aimed toward him and Ishga. The Blood-Storm looked as if he planned on interjecting, but a look from his master made the Hunter back down while the Warchief stepped forward.

"I probably could've...probably should've if the sudden number of blades pointed my way says anything." he folded his hands in front of himself and gave a low hum before meeting Pigug's gaze "But that would've just prolonged this in the end, wouldn't it?"

"Nice to see that you ain't got no denial on how this is gonna' end up." Dharg uttered, to the cheers and jeers of his soldiers "Now we get to kill your little Red-runt right in front of ya."

Pigug hefted his blade for emphasis, and the Advisor flinched before opening his mouth to call for help once more until-

"What is this?"

All turned towards the Garrison HQ, where a familiar Warchief stood in the doorway. Hork huffed at the sight, the look in his eye betraying the sheer amount of annoyance he had for this. Bags under his eyes, his lips already pulled back in a semi-snarl. It pained Tugog to see him like this, he knew Hork was breaking down the longer he was from his charge. Back in Mordor, Hork would never let himself seem this dependent on anything. Even when defending the gate he cared for so much from rebel sabotage, he never acted like this. Tugog cursed his fellow warchief's promotion, as he had done at several times previously. As a Captain, old Hork would've been offended at the idea of being this affected by the absence of a single structure.

Now, he was running a tired gaze across his Uruks, settling not on Dushrat, but his own Captains "You two, supposed to be aiding the Grimm-Killers with today's hunt."

"Yes sir, we's aware." Dharg spoke up before gesturing to their prisoner "But while we were gearin' up for that we-"

"Those are MY soldiers..." Hork interrupted him harshly as he continued stalking over "My soldiers... who are about to go out to slaughter an ancient beast probably capable of killing them all."

Dharg took a step back as his Master stood over him, the blinded rage now suddenly reaching the Hell-Hawk. Pigug's hand visibly tensed on the handle of his blade, but the Executioner kept his composure quite well in comparison to his fellow Garrison Captain.

"And now, you want to slander my name by sending my soldiers into the maw of their prey without their experienced, sturdy Captains there to lead them?"

"Of course they wouldn't, old friend." Tugog spoke up, to the surprise of Ishga, who had been distracted by the Black Gate Protector's actions.

Hork looked Dreamer up and down before pushing Dharg out of the way "You" he growled ""is this your doing?"

"What!? You can't just blame my master when-!"

"Yes it was." Tugog answered with a nervous laugh before gesturing towards the now-shocked Garrison troops "I took time away from your soldiers for this little event."

All of their underlings simultaneously glanced at the Dreamer with disbelief in their eyes as Hork advanced on him. As the shadow of his fellow Warchief fell over him, Tugog took the time to push Ishga out of the danger zone as Hork's enraged growls became all-encompassing.

"Why..." the massive Uruk grumbled as his burning pupils peered down into the lesser Warchief "Why would you... DARE!? Do something.. SUCH AS-"

"A peace offering."

The Dreamer's sudden words made the Black Gate's Overseer pause, the Hate in his eyes briefly pushed aside by confusion, confusion which spread to the other Uruks in attendance like wildfire.

"A...what?"

"A peace offering of course, I've noticed you've seemed a bit...eh..." Tugog thought for a word for a moment as he tried to hide the fearful sweat on his brow "stressed. Yes, stressed. So I felt having you kill something might cheer you up a bit."

"WHAT?!"

Of course the yell had come from none other than Dushrat, who struggled out of the grasp of his captors and stumbled to his feet despite his bound arms "Sir, what lunacy are you speaking?!""

Hork looked back at the restrained Advisor, his angry grunting dissipating a bit as he turned back towards the Dreamer with a raised eyebrow "What are you playing at?"

"Well, as your friend," he noted how Hork grunted at that term "I feel something akin to sympathy when seeing how our predicament affects you. Back when we were grunts, killing something always brought a sick grin to ya face. So I figured... maybe it still does."

"Boss, what in Sauron's name are you talkin' about!?"

"This is...a trick..." Hork grumbled as he began building his anger once more, puffing up his chest in the process as he jabbed Tugog in the chest with a meaty finger "You must be...trying to trick-"

"Think, old chap," the Dreamer said before giving a nervous cough and patting his old partner on the shoulder as he stepped by and gestured to the flabbergasted onlookers "the only other explanation would be that your soldiers disobeyed orders. And well trained followers like that would never disobey their Warchief, now would they? I mean, ya did train them ya'self."

Dharg and Pigug shared a look, narrowing their eyes but keeping their mouths closed as they found they couldn't offer a rebuttal without putting themselves in the face of the Warchief's wrath.

"No, my Uruks are better than that...they're elites!" Hork said with conviction before settling his gaze on a mortified Dushrat, then glancing to Tugog at his side "Hn, so you've fallen to sacrificing your own underlings to appease me?"

"Come on, Hork old boy." Tugog shrugged, trying to look casual "A-as I recall we used to do similar things back when we were just Captains."

"I was different back then," the Garrison Commander turned on him "I was younger, more reckless. Shouldn't I be insulted that you believe the same tricks will bring me pleasure?"

"Master please!" Dushrat yelled "What are you saying!? Have you gone mad like the rest of them!? They kidnapped me for an execution, just tell him it was his stupid bloody soldiers!"

"I do believe the Advisor just insulted your boys." Tugog said without hesitation, capitalizing on his follower's lack of foresight.

Dushrat flinched back as Hork turned his gaze back on him, Tugog kept a nervous look in his eyes at his side "It would be unwise to allow him to do so in front of your own soldiers."

Hork growled, the rumbling in his throat eventually shifting to a chuckle as he reached for one of the swords on his back "Finally speaking some type of sense I see."

"Boss..." Dushrat muttered as his captors began backing away from him, even the Gate Captains backed up as Hork began sliding one of the swords from its sheathe.

"Wait!"

The massive Uruk paused and glanced behind him, the Advisor momentarily had a look of hope spread across his face as Dreamer stepped forward and pulled one of his own axes from his back. He held it towards the other Warchief before flipping it over and saying "For old times sakes," he said with a nervous chuckle before tossing it to him "I'd like to see if Hork the Mangler is still as intimidating as ever."

Of course, the larger Uruk caught the weapon easily, looking it over critically "This isn't like the axes I had back then, but I suppose it shall suffice."

With that said he slid one of his sword outs with his other hand and tossed it towards Dushrat, taking several practice swings with the axe as the surrounding Garrison soldiers caught on and began chanting or blood.

"Stand and fight for the right to survive," Hork called to the unfortunate Red armored Uruk, who blanched as the Gatekeeper turned on him "All structures bend to my will, I shall feed this tower your blood."

* * *

 **Junior's Club**

 _A-are we dead?_

Gundza groaned as he rolled onto his stomach, cursing the renewed pain in his head as he pushed himself up off the catwalk he was lying on. He could hear voices, besides that of Mitch in his head-

That thought immediately snapped the possessed man to attention "You're still in there?!" he shouted, thankfully the humans below didn't seem to hear him.

 _W-...I was j- yes?_

"Then they didn't break the aura then." Dugza muttered as he steadied himself on the nearest guardrail "I had been under the impression that-" he shook his head "Never mind, seems like I still get to play around in this body o' yours, meatbag."

 _I...I still don't even know what's happening! Why can't I move?! Is this a side effect of Gresh I wasn't told about?_

The Uruk groaned as the tark began subconsciously throwing questions at him, but decided to ignore him for the time being as he took in their surroundings.

Junior's club was trashed, broken stuff littered the dance floor and broken glass and spilt liquor seemed to coat the walls. The civilians had all evacuated, but battered and beaten bouncers lied all amongst the wreckage. Many had woken up, and were either trying to help up their cohorts or just stared at the carnage in disbelief. The voices seemed to come from several of these bouncers, who seemed to be arguing with those two females Krosh had busied himself with during the brawl.

"We can't find him if we don't know who took him!" one of the bouncers said "He kept this place together! You have to help us find him or-!"

"Or... what exactly?" one of the twins said as she patted a dark bruise with a flinch of annoyance "Far as I know this place is like... done for."

The other nodded in agreement with an air off indifference, "Yeah..."

 _So...they really took him?_

"They're Warmongers." Gundza grumbled as he vaulted over the guardrail and stumbled a bit before standing straight on the ground floor "Not much that actually keeps them from taking what they want."

 _Oh god... then the club..._

"Hopefully done for," Gundza grumbled as he immediately made his way to the exit "only been here not for an hour and already the place can burn for all I care."

 _But- Wait, you know those guys right?! You can help get him back!_

"Ain't doin' that." the Uruk stated immediately as he walked through the destroyed doors which once served as an entrance.

"Hey Mitch!" a voice called out, making the possessed man pause at the doorway as one of the bouncers rushed to him "Where are you going, man?! You gotta help us convince these two to-"

"Those frigid wenches can do whatever they damn well please."

The odd tone came as a shock to the bouncer, who flinched as Mitch turned on him. The recovering junkie they knew seemed pissed, like how he looked when Junior had first cracked on him for his bad habits. But that wasn't it, his regular eyes were eerily blackened. A single white pupil floated in the middle of those inky holes instead of the brownish ones, as if he'd slipped on one of those odd contact lenses. And from those eyes his veins were slightly dark as well, it was odd enough for the taller bouncer to flinch from the addict.

"Dude, what's wrong with your eyes?"

 _What? What's wrong with my eyes?_

Gundza tilted his head to the side in confusion before those odd eyes of his widened and he cursed, that damn Warmonger must have knocked off his glasses when he kicked him! And they were probably left shattered on the catwalk above, so yet another annoying factor off his ability was bared for the world to see. As much as he hated this place, he had been grateful that bouncers like Mitch all wore those unnecessary shades of theirs. He would've had to find some other pair without the odd eyes being pointed out.

The other bouncer backed away a bit as Mitch spewed forth a stream of familiar and foreign-sounding curses at once, "Hey, listen man I don't-"

And then Gundza realized the easy solution to his problem, and his odd eyes turned on the bouncer before him who was talking about some pointless matter or something. The glasses were standard for employees like him, and they just so happened to survive the Warmonger attack.

"-so if this is something new you're going through just understand that we need everyone to pull toget-"

He was silenced as Mitch's fist careened into his stomach, breaking his already struggling Aura and making him double over. This new position made it easier for Mitch to slide the red shades off of his head and place them on his own before his next fist sent the man sprawling onto the ground.

 _The hell are you doing!?_

Gundza cracked his knuckles as he adjusted to the new red filter which covered everything "I believe this is the equivalent of what you tarks call...therapy."

His eyes were drawn back to the gagging man before him as he snarled "And I don't believe you have much of a right to bitch and moan to me while our place of employment rots around us, maggot."

"Yo Mitch!" another employee called from the side as the others took note off the sudden violence "What in god's name was that for!?"

"What?" Gundza quirked an eye beneath his shades before nodding to the guy beneath him "You mean this?"

"No shit he means that!" another piped up

"Just teaching a worm not to waste my time with his mundane bullshittery." Gundza paused at that and laughed to himself "I'm liking these words you have, Tark."

"Does anyone know what he's talking about?"

"He probably got into the Gresh Leaves before the attack." one of the Twins said as she rolled her eyes "As usual."

"And since this place is knocking on death's door," the possessed man said before turning towards the doorway once more "I suppose I'll be taking my leave now."

The shouts of his former coworkers caused Gundza to groan, but he ignored them as he exited the club. Immediately he operated on what he could find in Mitch's memories, he needed to plan "Oi runt, remind where your crummy little hidey hole is."

 _My job...I'm gonna get kicked out..._

"Focus! Just point in the right direction before yo go cryin' and whatnot."

 _Why do you even care...?_

"What with all the trouble I just went through, siftin' through ya memories ain't easy. Make it a little easier by just tellin' me where ya... apart-ment is."

 _You're going through my memories?!_

"Yeah, don't worry though, ain't nothin' of much use besides the surpisingly colorful words you weak Pinkskins have round here." Gundza looked down at Mitch's hands "So soft and weak, even your Aura was no match for me."

 _Who are you!? Stop avoiding the question!_

"There's a difference between ignoring and not caring." Gundza grunted "It's an admittedly small one that lesser creatures like you Pinkskins wouldn't be able to comprehend, but a difference none the less."

With that Gundza continued glancing around at the buildings around him, trying to match them up with Mitch's memories "As for who I am, guess ya' deserve the honor of hearing my title. I am Gundza the Shadow, loyal servant of the black gate, and the current master of your weak pathetic body."

The word _master_ seemed to make several of Mitch's memories come to the forefront, one of a disappointed male elder greeting him at the entrance of a police station, another of that Junior fellow accusingly pointing at a small bag of chopped Gresh, and a final one of a large man requesting money in exchange for a living area. And that memory finally gave Gundza the location of-

"The apartment..." he cooed "so that's where it is. A worthless place where I shall refurbish the plans of my hunt."

 _Get out of my head!_

"No can do there worm, my will is stronger than that measly, decrepit Aura of yours." this made the possessed-man growl "The only thing protecting the weak of this world, and yet still you humans find ways to make it weaker."

 _M-my aura?_

"Maybe if you hadn't been killin' off senses left and right with those damn weeds of yours, maybe you coulda lasted longer. I hope the consequences of your actions truly pains you for the duration of my stay.

 _You were that thing that jumped on me...that shadow..._

"Looks like ya were killin off brain cells too, took ya that long to figure it out." Gundza grumbled at the sheer ineptitude of the body's former owner "A stronger Aura may have been able to fend off my power, but with you it was like slippin' on a pair of gloves. I mean ya body's a wreck in here, filled with all that poison a failure such as you seems to enjoy, made ya head more of a piss take then I would've wanted, but it was still as simple as could be."

Gimub had allowed him in easy and simple as part of testing the limits, and it was most certainly easier than forcing his way in. Despite the annoyances it provided, the struggle of getting through Gimub's aura just proved that despite being a basket case he was still strong enough to be a true warrior. Unlike this welp who put up a similar fight but still managed to disappoint.

"You should thank me," Gundza said as Mitch's apartment building came into sight in all its crummy glory "perhaps you'll get some taste of that dream of yours before I've no use for you anymore."

 _What dream, what are you even talking about?!_

Gundza only smirked in response before making his way to the filthy apartment.

* * *

 **A Cave Somewhere...**

"So what do you do for fun?"

"Shut up."

"Got any female Uruks on your radar?"

"Shut up."

"How long you been serving, eh?"

"Shut up."

Yang was certain that if she just kept badgering Mulgrim with questions he'd eventually crack under the pressure and attack her. Weiss always did say she could be _incessantly invasive_ at times. Here's hoping the Ice Queen's labels stood true, and that this new plan of hers would work better than the last.

Since Krosh had left, Yang had tried talking Mulgrim into helping her escape, tried picking the locks with a hair pin she kept for rainy days both literally and figuratively, and even tried fashioning a shovel out of some of the stuff in the cell.

Easy to say that all of those plans fell flat before they even had a chance, and Mulgrim must've known this as well because he didn't even try stopping her the entire time. He did get a bit apprehensive when she tried picking the lock, but other than that just stood in place watching her like a hawk.

Now she'd decided mental warfare was simply the only way to go.

"That's a nice sword ya got there."

"Shut up."

"You practice often?"

"Shut up."

"I do."

"Don't care."

"Why not?"

"Shut up."

"Why?"

"Shut up."

And so the battle of wills continued, if she could just keep this going long enough, he'll eventually crack. Or at least, he would if Krosh didn't pick that moment to step in.

"Okay, me and Oggy finished the job so- what the hell is this?"

Yang wasted no time in smirking "A battle of minds so great it'll leave your little lackey here wetting himself for the next few weeks!"

"Shut up."

Krosh just rolled his eyes "Whatever, not important. Get up Lady."

"We having another round?" Yang asked as she stood and stretched, this was what she'd been waiting for "I'm sixty-seven percent sure I can totally take you now."

"As fun as proving that wrong would be, no." he instead gestured for her to follow him "I need to make sure you aren't too damaged from that curb stomp I put you through, remember that? Yeah, I had another slave girl who ended up dying from something I did to her weeks prior, didn't think much of it before she stopped getting up when I kicked her. Don't want my little champion dying on me like that, so I'll be taking you to the doc for a little look see after every training period from now on."

"Doctor?" Yang tilted her head to the side as she cautiously stepped towards him

"Wait," Mulgrim spoke up "we thinkin' o the same doc here?"

That made Krosh give a small groan as he scratched the back of his neck "Yeah, as much of a pissant he is, he's the most convenient at the moment."

He gave a small chuckle at that as he ushered Yang out, the first time she'd seen the outside of the cave...

...and realized with a shock that they were standing in a hallway.

"What is this?" she asked as she looked around, the door of the cave she'd been held in had been carved out of the back of hall, the cave floors turning into tile as she stepped away from it. Had this always been here, she didn't remember it being like this when Krosh dragged her in, it had all felt like regular rock walls not...this...

She didn't have long to ponder it, as Krosh gestured for her to start walking as Mulgrim stepped out and closed the door behind him. The Camera guy folded his arms and grumbled something unintelligible before following behind. Yang just turned to face the hall ahead and kept walking. On either side were other doors that had been built into the walls, leading to what she could only assume were more cells. This proved true as she started hearing the groans and whimpers of prisoners echoing out of several cells, she could only hope to bring back help for them after she escaped, that is...if she could even figure out where this place was-

That line of thought was interrupted as a large fist punched a small hole through the cell it was in, a fist that definitely belonged to an Uruk. They were keeping their own in here too?

"Maaahger!" a deep but muddled voice called out, as if he was gargling through some type of oral restraint "Maaahger! WaaaMaaaahger! Yaaaa aaaaaaa diieeeeee!"

Krosh scoffed at that fist as its owner tried unsuccessfully bashing their way through the rest of the door, then turned to Mulgrim "Get some of the boys on this before it becomes a problem."

The camera guy nodded and ran ahead before entering another door and disappearing, Krosh ushered Yang onward, though the sounds of the thrashing prisoner still echoed through the hall.

Yang kept her eye on Krosh the entire way, hating the fact that he seemed so at ease with escorting her on his own. It just meant that he was confident in his ability to take her down if he needed to, which irked her. Luckily, keeping an eye on him didn't keep her from noticing the increasingly concerning characteristics of the area around them as they traveled further down the hall. It began looking cleaner, more well kept, and the cells became more efficiently spaced and organized in their placement. Which only cemented in her mind that Krosh had gone out of his way to give her a crummier holding cell. Peaking inside one through a small viewport, she saw it even had a rudimentary bed and a bedpan! And here she had Mulgrim Camera wiz telling her to humiliate herself by going in a corner, unbelievable.

That anger nearly made her miss the door that was right in front of her, but she managed to stop before giving that Warmonger dude something else to taunt her with.

"Mkay, let me just..." he punched a code into a-

"Is that a keypad?"

"Yep."

"You have one of those..." Yang began slowly "but you can't even set up a camera or even a proper toilet in my cell?"

"Baby you know it," he said while shooting back one of his now common shit-eating grins "priorities ya know?"

Yang narrowed her eyes as the door slid open...

...and they immediately widened again.

Beyond the door was a hallway with windows along one side, and even before she stepped forward and pressed against one to get a better look, she could recognize the sounds of a factory. Through the windows she could spot conveyor belts were below, people in jumpsuits assembling tiny things while blue and white painted Uruks in oddly familiar armor oversaw production.

"What is this...?"

Krosh leaned over to take a look "None of your business, now come on."

Despite the view, Yang couldn't tell what those on the factory line were making. It was just one of the many questions that were building up as this little visit to the doctor's continued. Uruks forcing people to work on stuff in a factory, factory connected to a prison hallway, why the hell were they even going to a factory for a trip to the doctor?

It would seem that those questions would soon be answered, as Krosh opened a door for her, this time the sound of a laughing Uruk could be heard.

"-and so I find a way ta get his arm back on, right? But the stupid cur decides he don't trust me usin' the Anesthetic stuff on em, so I end up boltin' the poor bastard's arm back on while he's awake and screamin' like a babe! HA!"

Yang paused once she found the owner of the voice, mostly because he had both of his hands in the guts of an Uruk. A tall looking Bald Uruk in a blood-stained doctor's coat covering his bare torso was hunched over at an operating table which looked insanely out of place in the factory setting. The coat had an I.D. card of some faunus man who was probably the original owner, and beneath it the Uruk wore what seemed to be the standard blue trousers and blue-white body paint they all seemed to have. Oddly enough he also had a pair of busted full-moon glasses which had the lenses removed, the frame bent oddly around his head.

And there was something else odd about him, something about his face that Yang couldn't exactly put her finger on, but the sight of the Doctor pulling bits of metal from the wounded Uruk distracted her again.

"So I stop in the middle of it, on account of his thrashin' making things a bit more difficult for me, and he immediately yells for me to get back to work...after taking three full minutes to get the other screams out of him." the Uruk Doctor continued even as he pulled a large piece off metal from his patient's abdomen "So for the next hour or so it's this ludicrous mash of him yellin' for mercy then cursing me for stopping. Couldn't stop laughing me head off!"

To her surprise, the wounded Uruk gave a low chuckle to the Operator's story, which caused his wounds to tug and pull in a grotesque manner. The Doctor shared in his humor for a moment before pulling another piece of metal from him and wiping some sweat from his forehead, "Anywho, that's why Tugor's arm is backwards now." he chuckled to himself "Now you just lie back and have the aura thingie take care of the rest."

With that he turned on Yang and Krosh, who had kept an unamused expression throughout the entire sight.

"So, Krosh me boy." the Doctor cackled "Nother slave problem?"

The Warmonger just rolled his eyes before nudging the blonde "Lady, this is Ratlug, our warband's Sawbones and Swordsmith. He keeps the boys and the blades in check."

"So... _you're_ a doctor?" from how he treated his other patient, Yang was not convinced this would lead anywhere other than more pain.

"Well I was just a Swordsmith before, I could put an Uruk back together right quick then too, but they liked me weapons much more." He patted his bald head in self-admiration "But I learned lots o' helpful things in this world, so the Grand Shaman said I was fit to fix and ended up giving me another title on top of it!"

Yang slowly turned to Krosh "You're going to put me in this guy's hands?"

"Trust me, he _probably_ knows what he's doing." the Warmonger nodded

"His other patient literally just walked off with his stomach hanging open."

Krosh glanced past Yang to see that the Uruk previously on the operating table had exited the room out another door and was stumbling along a wall while cursing.

"Pssh," Ratlug waved it off "he just likes actin' tough. Trust me, slave wench, I'll have those aching pains out of you in a jiffy!"

Yang had only enough time to utter a "What?" before Ratlug's hand sped forth and snatched her off the ground by the throat with strength she hadn't expected from him. She knew from first hand experience that the Uruks were almost all incredibly strong, even Mulgrim's skinny self was somehow rocking enough abs to make Cardin jealous, and she also knew that appearances could be insanely misleading if some of her recent defeats came to mind. But what was this shit!?

Ratlug ignored her clawing scratches as he gave a small whistle and walked back to the operating table with her kicking legs held off the ground. He slammed her down onto the table and tightened his grip to hold her there as his other hand whipped an extremely large bonesaw from his coat.

"Now you just tell me where the pain is and I'll cut it out, right quick-!"

He jerked a bit as Krosh slapped him on the back of the head, "Idiot, I said to check her for problems, not cut her up! I sorta need her not cut up."

"Oh come on," Ratlug said while inching his bonesaw closer to Yang's abdomen "I already got me saw out and everything!"

"No...bad doctor." the Warmonger reprimanded

The bonesaw was pulled away, though Ratlug's iron grip still held her to the table as he gestured to Krosh angrily "Ya know I don't appreciate you treatin' me as such, youngin'."

The label made Krosh's eyes go wide before he hissed "You don't get the pleasure of calling me that, old man."

The idea of having something on the Warmonger made Yang momentarily forget about the precarious situation she was in. He didn't like references to his age? She didn't know much about Uruk biology besides what she'd heard from Krimp, which wasn't much. They came out of pits, right? The dude looked to be in his late twenties early thirties range, but due to the vast physiological differences between all the Uruks she'd seen that didn't mean much. She'd seen young looking Uruks with pale hair, old looking Uruks with the strength of a person in their prime, fat Uruks who could run faster than half the trained professionals at her school, and that didn't even count the insane range of skills she'd seen among the Captains so far. How Bubol could move with the nimbleness of a choreographed dancer with all those painfully disgusting boils weighing down his body, or how Krimp could look like a living giant yet require Ruby's semblance to outpace.

And that didn't even touch on the range of their skin colors...

So yeah, she was not the leading mind on Uruk biology, but she did get a sneaking feeling. A feeling that kept growing as she watched Krosh and Ratlug argue with each other. It started off as a small suggestion her subconscious brought up as she heard the Doctor's comment on Krosh's age, and grew as the two devolved into a certain category of banter she recognized. Albeit she also wasn't a leading mind on Uruk Psychology, despite the common thread of violence seemingly linking them all together, but she began noticing more things about the two: How Krosh seemed to groan once they entered the other Uruk's presence, how Ratlug seemed predisposed to teasing, and how if she looked at them in a certain way, she could almost see a faint resemblance-

"Oh shit," she uttered as realization hit her "he's your dad."

The statement made the two cease their conversation, and a smug grin grow across the Doctor's face "See, even ya lass spots the resemblance."

"I mean..." she twisted her head to the side in his grasp "kinda?"

Their noses were somewhat similar, but she'd seen that amongst other Uruks too. What really sold it was picturing Ratlug without the massive, jagged teeth he had poking out between his lips. If those were gone, he might share enough of a human appearance to look related.

"Can it, you old bastard." Krosh murmured before nodding to Yang "Lady here needs an _actual_ check up, can't go digging around in her like your other patients."

Ratlug pouted, which looked odd considering his Orcish visage, before rolling his eyes and glancing down at her again "Whatever, ya ungrateful git, so what exactly is wrong here?"

"Dislocated her shoulder during a training sesh." the Warmonger nodded towards the shoulder in question

The Sawbones gave a short chuckle "And how is this more of a problem than the lass you was draggin' around last week? The one who seemed to have misplaced the bones in 'er legs?"

"This is my champion, don't go confusing her with the regular throw-away toys I bring around here."

Ratlug just gave a shrug as he began poking at her shoulder "Well madame, feelin any problems or so?"

Yang still couldn't let the whole father-son thing go "I thought you guys came from spawn pit thingies?"

The Doctor began chuckling mischievously at that, while Krosh just leaned against the nearby wall and glanced through a window to the factory floor below "We do, least we're supposed to. This guy over here just got a bit too curious and got himself exiled."

The brawler's eyes went back to the Doctor, who massaged her arm as he seemed to remember previous exploits fondly "Ya don't get ta bein' an Uruk of method like me without havin' a nice, healthy bit o curiosity."

"Curiosity which led him to wondering what human milk tasted like." Krosh interrupted with a mutter

The implication of that little statement made Yang's eyes go wide with comprehension.

Ratlug pulled away a bit to rub his bald head with his free hand "Yeah, and since there's this thing about not beddin' humans on account of ya bein' a bunch o' filthy, pathetic weaklings, I made the sacrifice of beddin' one of me slaves for knowledge!"

"Great," Yang mumbled as she turned her glare back on Krosh "so I get hurt...and your solution is to send me to a rapist?"

Krosh rolled his eyes "Tarks complain too much."

"Anyway, I of course got the short end of the stick in the end, if ya catch my meaning." Ratlug gave a bit of a chuckle as he went back to inspecting her arm "After many trials I concluded that Human milk tasted like shrakh compared to some cattle milk."

"Or human blood."

"Or human blood, yes." the Doctor grew an angry look "And on top of that, I got stuck with the spawn when me little milk-maker decided poppin' out a few youngins was too much and went and died on me."

"...You guys are literally the worst people I've ever encountered." Yang muttered, liking this inspection less and less as she learned about the one administering it.

"Oh yeah, I tried abandonin' 'em in the wilderness where some wild beast could deal with 'em for me, but then this one" he gestured to Krosh "decided he was too good for dyin' and all!"

"Really feeling that parental love right now." the Warmonger snarled

"Even goes to savin' one of his mutant kin on top of that."

"Wait wasn't he just an infant at the time?" Yang couldn't help but ask

"Ha! Lassie don't even know how Uruk maturity be workin." Ratlug burst into laughter "This bastard was probably the size of one o' you tark children when he came out!"

"...and you wonder why his mother died in childbirth?"

"All human women are weak when it comes to birth," the Doctor scoffed "the wench couldn't even handle the first little runt. The rest just fell out of the remaining hole along with several other vital organs."

"Hey, Kroshie boy?" Yang called to the side as she once more tried pulling at the hand around her neck "I'm really not comfortable with the guy you've got lookin' me over here."

"And I'm not comfortable with _you_ dragging on about that harlot woman." Krosh bit at his elder before rummaging through a nearby drawer passively and meeting Yang's gaze "What he did was Taboo for any respectable Uruk, only those savage chief-less idiots would go around wasting time with tark women. You enslave them if they're strong enough, kill them if they're weak, then cook up whatever's left of them... just like any other sniveling lesser species."

"A medical Uruk's curiosity is not so easily sated, youngin'." Ratlug said as he wet a nearby rag in water and began squeezing it

"Yeah, curiosity which got you exiled like that Gundza fellow, your just lucky the Shaman was willing to employ you."

"You're lucky too," the Doctor grumbled as he draped the rag on Yang's forehead and began applying pressure "hybrid spawn like ya'self often get crushed soon as they're found. Only the Master would be willing to keep you alive, same goes for that other mistake o' mine."

"Can we just focus on fixing my slave!?" Krosh barked before pausing, soon lessening into mutters as Yang noticed him pull something out of the drawer

The blonde squinted to get a better look at it, letting a curious look spread on her face at the sight of the large, clunky looking pistol in Krosh's hand. Why the hell was that in a Doctor's office? Yang halted that question before she could think too much on it, this Ratlug guy didn't seem to belong in a doctor's office either, these guys probably didn't give too much of a damn where they stored stuff. The way it was built did give Yang an idea, and anything to distract her from the horrid being standing over her did wonders for her nerves.

So maybe they were making guns with those assembly lines out there? She wasn't as much of a techxpert as her sister, but she could probably put these two clues together. However, the main problem with that theory was that the pistol in front of her now looked like it was made of a different metal. She couldn't get too good of a look at the assembly line, but mulling it over could potentially help her when she escapes.

These thoughts were interrupted by Krosh, who glanced up from the weapon "What in fuck's name are you doing?"

Yang's attention was drawn back to Ratlug, who just finished tying rope around her forehead to keep the rag secure- what the hell WAS he doing?

Ratlug tilted his head to the side "Ya wanted me ta help her, I just finished helping her." he finally released her and stepped away, prompting Yang to sit up and scoot away from him as quickly as possible.

"I told you she might have problems with her _arm_." Krosh stated as he turned on the Doctor

"Correct."

"Why in the hell did you tie a rag around her head?"

"To help her," Ratlug clapped before getting struck with realization and turning on Yang "ya gonna want that rewetted every seven hours."

Yang was about to say something before water dripped down from the rag into her eye, she wiped at it "Tch- it's getting in my eye."

"Necessary sacrifice for healing."

"What about the arm?!" the Warmonger asked as he dangerously gestured with the pistol.

"It's even better now that the rag is secure."

"I'm... not sure that's how that work." Yang couldn't help but say

"You a doctor?" Ratlug turned on her with squinted eyes

"Well-"

"No, _I_ am!" He jerked a thumb to himself before glaring at both of them "I stole this 'ere coat fair and square, so I don't want you non-doctors complainin' when ya can't understand the wonders of medicine."

"Tell me you didn't do this just to waste my time!" Krosh stepped forward

"Now why would I do that!?" it seems Ratlug's patience was wearing thin as well

"Well you guys did just spend some time explaining how much you hate each other so-" Yang muttered

"Shut up!" they both interjected before getting into each other's face.

"Fine." Yang didn't know much about Uruks, but when it comes to beef she was quite well versed. When two guys start spouting insults at each other and getting into each other's face, those were tell-tale signs of an incoming brawl, which often necessitated gathering in a circle around the two combatants and chanting while they start wailing on each other. Depending on how badly they're distracted with this familial hate party, she might just have a chance to esca-

Then the door opened...

It happened so quick that Yang had to do a double take, one second Ratlug and Krosh looked like they were about to go at it. Then the door opens, Krosh spins around faster than she would've expected.

And now Mulgrim's on the floor with a bullet hole in his neck.

"Oh fuckin'-" the Warmonger turned on the Doctor "Look what you made me do!"

"Oh so you want to put this one on me?"

"If you hadn't been wasting our time-"

Yang tuned them out, the sight of Mulgrim's body bleeding out throwing her for a loop. She looked up to the two Uruks who had immediately gone back to arguing with each other, disbelief still etched into her face as she realized for probably the sixth time this day just what kind of captors she was dealing with. She never liked Mulgrim, she didn't like any of these things, but she'd never caught herself wishing they were dead. Maybe she'd entertained the idea of beating that Bubol guy to a pulp from time to time for that cheap crap he pulled during their last encounter, and the Warmonger always made her grit her teeth whenever he'd flash one of those shit-eating grins of his, but she liked to think a thorough ass-kicking for both of them would be enough to sate that anger. Mulgrim was annoying, but nowhere near as annoying as those two. She briefly considered whether or not this meant she'd get a new camera guy, but that thought was quickly replaced with wondering what type of species could possibly survive like this?

Shaken from her daze by the sound of Krosh tossing the gun away, Yang slid from the table and trained her eyes on the Arguing father-son pair and uttered: "The hell is wrong with you guys?"

"And now the woman speaks again." Krosh groaned before turning to her "Look Lady, could you give me a second while I-?"

"I just watched you kill one of your own guys, is this really normal for you two?"

"Oh please, he ain't dead." Ratlug waved it off before gesturing to the downed Uruk "He'll be fine."

"I am literally watching his still body lay in a growing pool of his own blood."

"It would take more than that to put down a Storm soldier." Ratlug waved her off before walking over to Mulgrim and hefting him over his shoulder before chuckling "'Sides, he's got one o' the best medics in Suaron's army right here to tend to him."

* * *

 **Vale Slums**

"You just had to pick the most fitting of insect-infested dung heaps to fester in, didn't you?"

Gundza grumbled as he looked through Mitch's scroll, reclining in a moth-eaten chair in a below-average apartment.

 _Stop going through my stuff!_

The Uruk's eye twitched as the repressed human decided to speak up once more inside his head, "I do believe the term is: MY stuff. I'm in your body, your body purchased these items, therefore they're now mine. Not like you were gonna use them for much besides the usual human shit. Look at this, twelve porn sites in the past week? Can you be any more jaw-droppingly pathetic?"

 _What are you even looking for? You've just been going through traffic schedules for the past three hours!_

"Indeed, my plan for acquiring my target necessitates the appropriation of a certain vehicle." Gundza cackled "You should be aiding me in searching, perhaps I'll only cripple you when I have my target and no longer have to soak in this pitiful form of yours."

 _Yeah, tough luck pal. From what you've been going on about, not only is this target of yours a huntress in training, but is also heiress to literally one of the most powerful companies on Remnant. I doubt you'll be able to take her in this...what did you call it? Oh yeah...pathetic body of mine._

"Maybe it'd be hard if you controlled it, but I'm not some failure junkie. I'm a Captain employed by the great Black Gate Defender himself!"

 _How is traffic supposed to trap her anyway?_

"There's the idiotic thinking of yours again, its simple. I'm going to present a scenario only your Huntsmen can possibly hope to stop, it will draw her to me like a fly to a zapper."

 _But...wouldn't that draw all the other huntsmen as well?_

"Indeed, but we only need to focus on her."

 _You'll get us killed with a plan like that! I'm not ready to die!_

Gundza groaned and stood from the chair before walking to the apartment's single dirty window and pulling the filthy glass open "Your constant abuse of life-threatening substances begs to differ."

 _Look...I think I get it now. This is some kind of divine punishment designed to make me care more for my health. A 'Stop caring about your body so your body stops caring about you' kinda thing, I get it! I've learned my lesson, so just stop before you put me in a position I can't recover from!_

"Pfft, me and the divine just don't mesh well Tark. I'da thought a failure like you wouldn't be into those stupid tark beliefs, what with how they never serve ta make your life more bearable."

Gundza scanned the dismal streets critically as a sigh passed from betwixt his lips "Besides, you can't even tell me you hate this. In fact, you _love_ it."

 _That's ridiculous!_

"Can't lie to me, worm. Mixing with ya soul like I am, you weak-willed welps are like open little books once the headaches stop." the possessed man stepped away froom the window and had to be careful not trip on some of the junk Mitch had lying around "Truth is, you hated responsibility. Hated having to live with the wreck of a life you found yourself in. Humiliated by everything and everyone you'd ever known with nothing but those leaves to ease your suffering. You wanted to be a race car driver when you was young, wanted to feel the adrenaline of speed take you away. You got your training and everything, then bam! First lady-friend ruined ya, publicly emasculating you by posting that video and leading you to shameful, vengeful crimes against the society you feel shunned you."

Contrary to what Gundza expected, Mitch seemed to have gone silent... leading the Uruk to smirk as he went back to researching.

"And what Irony it was too, you were a wannabe racer reduced to a getaway driver, then further reduced to muscle at some shite club." he laughed "But don't worry my boy, least you can experience a taste o' that adrenaline before I no longer require your sniveling frame."

* * *

 **Ozpin's Office**

"And with more activity being attributed to the Blue Scarves and White Fang, officials have been adamant that their search for the perpetrators has been going strong-"

Ozpin and Ironwood watched the screen before them, showing news footage of a burning arms factory located in Atlas. The General had one hand to his chin, trying to maintain his composure, but his fellow headmaster could easily tell just how much these recent attacks had unsettled him. Ozpin himself sat at his desk with his hands folded together on top of it, as they switched channels and heard different versions of this latest story from different media sources, he subtly shifted his gaze from the General to the screen in order to gauge his reaction.

"We don't have time for this," Ironwood muttered before turning to the professor "dealing with the Uruks and the... ahem, saboteurs simultaneously was a challenge as is, but now these terrorists are coming out of the woodwork like locusts. We don't have enough forces to spread around like this, somebody's going to notice something."

Ozpin gave a small hum in agreement before sitting straight "It would seem handling this tactfully is no longer an option," he said with sigh as he looked over the various reports of kidnappings, robberies and more which seemed to multiply even further as time went on "in order to deal with any one of these threats we'd end up leaving openings for the others."

"Which is why we need to go public," the General placed his hands on the desk as he spoke "operating from the shadows like this is limiting us far more than helping us at this point. We get the people's support, then we can send forces in bulk to deal with those monsters while we focus on finding the infiltrators. Once they're in custody we can push back the White Fang and Blue Scarves before they get too bold."

"James, you and I both know what happens the second this information gets to the people-"

"We can deal with the Grimm, we always have!" Ironwood insisted "Those monsters alone should be feeding them enough negative emotion as is!"

"I can see what you're trying to say, General, but you have to realize that-"

Whatever Ozpin was about to say, he was cut off by a beeping sound. Both of the Headmasters turned to a small screen projected from the desk. The Professor glanced to Ironwood, who looked back for a moment before sighing and nodding for him to answer it. The Atlesian then stepped away from the desk and folded his arms behind his back before walking to the nearby window.

Ozpin watched for only a second before pressing a finger to the screen.

Seconds later two of his very own students were approaching from the elevator, an oddly large individual following behind them with happy hums drifting from the wrapping around his face.

"Ms. Schnee, Ms. Belladonna," Ozpin greeted the two of them with nods as they stood at attention before him "I hear your team has seen an unexpected amount of trouble these past few days. I'm sorry if I've kept you waiting for long, things have been quite hectic here as well."

Seeing a chance, Weiss spoke "And would some of that have anything to do with...Uruks?"

Hearing that made Ironwood turn from the window as the Professor raised an eyebrow, "And where exactly did you learn that term from?"

"They were the reason our trip went sour," Blake spoke up before looking down "they're why one of our members is missing."

Ironwood stepped over being leaning towards the Professor and muttering "Oz, if they're operating this close to the cities already then we have even less time than we anticipated."

"Hm," the Headmaster turned back to his students "I'm sure you two wouldn't mind recounting the events in detail, would you?"

The Huntresses-in-training steeled their nerves before retelling of the events of the past few days. Everything from their initial skirmish at Yires to their first encounter with Krimp.

"His title was the Friendly?" the General interrupted at that tidbit of information

"Yep!" for the first time since entering, it was Krimp himself who answered, Weiss had been hoping that they could save that little revelation for the end of their recounting, as it would no doubt prove more challenging to discuss than what was already set in stone. That hope was dashed as soon as Ozpin turned to the disguised Uruk in question with a tilt of his head.

"I had been meaning to ask who your acquaintance here was," he said "I had assumed he was someone who aided you on your journey."

Before either of the girls could say anything, the massive Uruk stepped forward jabbing a thumb to himself "I sure did, the name's Krimp the Friendly and I helped them track down Bubby after a good old tussle!"

Ozpin gave him a critical look as Ironwood stepped forward "You say you're the Krimp the girls spoke of?"

"Yep!"

"An Uruk?"

"Yessiree!" he said as he reached for his wrappings and pulled them from his face.

Almost immediately Ironwood's hand instinctively reached for his pistol, even Ozpin's eyes showed a considerable widening as the Uruk revealed himself. The Friendly didn't seem to notice the sudden excess of tension, simply taking a deep breath with that excessively joyous smile on his face.

"Ahh," he sighed "effective but a tad constrainin'."

Blake tried to diffuse the situation as quickly as possible "He's actually quite tame in comparison to the other Uruks we've encountered, so when we found a chance to bring him in for questioning..."

"I can see the same benefits you girls you have." Ozpin said after looking his unexpected guest up and down "Though I must ask how you got him here without raising any suspicion."

Before either of the girls could reply, Krimp beat them to it "Oh, I've been hangin' around for a few days."

"You've been what?!" the General did not seem pleased at all by this information

"Yeah, I've been hangin' around makin friends and pals, goin' on adventures and that sort o' thing with me new mates."

"And the various staff didn't notice a thing?" Ozpin interjected

"I didn't want to be a bother to all them busy bodies, ya elders be runnin' around dealin' with all the troubles comin up that I'd just be a right big bother!"

"You've been evading them for several days?" Ironwood uttered in disbelief "All the security we have-"

"Girls, if you'd be so kind as to continue your story?" their Headmaster interjected

"Of course." the Faunus answered as she looked between the Headmasters with uncertainty.

Continuing on, they spoke of their 'friendly tussle' and how it eventually led them to Bubol. Weiss tried to decipher the looks on the Headmasters' faces, but besides Ironwood's constant suspicious glances towards the Uruk they maintained professional expressions.

"-and after hauling Ruby back to Yires to recover we traveled back to Vale with the town's populace." Blake concluded before looking down "We acted hastily, we should've-"

"But you guys were so cool!" Krimp piped up excitedly "Fighting off Bubby's buddies like that and rescuin' people! Like heroes!"

"You were watching us?" Weiss asked accusingly as she turned on him

"Just because I ain't gettin' in the midst of a brawl between besties, doesn' mean I ain't curious on how it ends!"

The Heiress grumbled, but before she could admonish him for his skewed priorities her Headmaster spoke up.

"Though I wouldn't use your... _friend's_ exact manner of tone, I do agree that what you girls did was indeed quite brave." he said whilst gesturing to them "It seems you all knew the possibilities, and chose accordingly."

"Every huntsmen is expected to know what they risk once they enter a battle, the same goes for soldiers as well." Ironwood chipped in, finally taking his gaze from the Uruk to give a respectful nod to the young huntresses in training "You girls know them, and your teammates know these as well. As long as you remember that, then you mustn't let yourselves be held back by thoughts on what could've or should've been."

Blake looked down at that, glancing up only after receiving a nudge from Weiss.

"We thank both of you for bringing this knowledge to us, I believe you all are quite deserving of a rest." Ozpin said before looking back to Krimp, who waved at him with a happy giggle "General Ironwood and I would like to have words with your acquaintance here, perhaps you should take some time for yourselves."

"Thank you professor," Weiss said before bowing.

She and Blake turned to leave, but the Faunus stopped for a moment and turned back. She walked over to Ozpin's desk and leaned close to whisper to him "Krimp's been displaying a bad habit of withholding certain details."

Ozpin smirked at this before glancing back to Krimp, who was in the middle of unsuccessfully trying to give Ironwood a handshake, he leaned back to her "I'm sure we'll be able to get something useful from him, nonetheless."

* * *

 **The City of Vale**

"So after that we cornered the beast in a cavern, but the old boy wasn't going to give in that easily."

The Gun Store owner lifted another empty bullet casing from a jar full of various casings in many different qualities. Gundza leaned against the counter while the old fellow continued the tale of exactly how and where he'd fired that bullet, as had been the same theme for the past few hours. The Uruk was starting to wonder whether or not listening to this dodger continue rambling was worth the end goal or not, but whenever he thought that he'd just glance to the clock on the wall behind the shopkeep and remind himself that when it reached a certain time he'd be able to take revenge on the old man for making him suffer through these shrakh stories.

 _You're the one who asked him about the jar in the first place._

Gundza wasn't foolish enough to openly argue with Mitch in front of someone, and he didn't feel like thinking up some rebuttals either. Instead he just took a moment to remember one time when Bubol had tried seducing him by doing an impromptu strip tease in the middle of-

 _Oh dear god, WHAT IS THAT!? I think I'm gonna throw up!_

As if a subconscious could throw up, Gundza had the body, had the stomach, he'd decide whether or not its meals would return to the open world.

With Mitch riling from the trauma of what he'd been forced to see, the possessed man looked back to the clock as the Gun store owner began another story. Normally he'd have broken and torn every bone, muscle and vein in this tark's body by now but his plan required him to hold himself back until a certain time. He had to wait for a bus to stop nearby, and had to plan for how long it'd take to make it from this store to the bus. To pass time, he'd made the mistake of trying to start a conversation with the shopkeeper, and would go on to regret it the more time passed.

What made it worse was the fact that nearly every story the old tark told him was one-hundred percent fable. The Uruk Captain had only spend so much time inside Mitch with his memories, and working with the information gleamed from a certain informant Gundza could tell just by looking at them that most of the bullets held before him had never actually been finished. Some were, mixed in here and there, but the vast majority of them were factory new if their appearance said anything. And of course, all those bullets were matched with the more grandiose of tales. Add to that that the owner kept speaking in an overly exaggerated accent, and Gundza wondered just how many of his customers were fooled by this shtick. If they knew, then it obviously wasn't enough to keep them from frequenting his establishment if he was still in business.

Gundza sighed under his breath, he should be more capable of appearing interested in words which left him unimpressed. It used to be part of his occupation before his disownment. He remembered infiltrating other armies under the orders of the great Warchief: Hork of the Black Gate. Pretending to enjoy killing and fighting in the name of other Warchiefs in order to grow close to them. Scouring their strongholds top to bottom for any sign of a threat to the Black Gate Garrison, reporting back to his Master and, if necessary, assassinating the Warchief and any supporters he must. Sending anonymous information to his target's rivals in order to get them killed in an ambush, starting those very rivalries through indirect provocation, giving insurrectionists the fighting chance they need to replace their own master and so forth. All at the will of his proud master who would always welcome him and his loyal followers back to the secure presence of the Black Gate whenever they'd return. He could practically taste the jealousy of his peers, as his Master's trusteed Shadow he worked from the dark to destroy anything he'd wish.

And then, that bumbling idiot ruined everything...

One of his previous followers had made the mistake of picking the absolute worst target during an assassination, and while the rest ended up catching or killing their marks, he just so happened to fire an arrow into the one Uruk there who had been feeding his Master information for months. Gundza had panicked, he'd let one of his soldiers kill one of the Master's helpful contacts. He'd have to punish him quickly, lest he catch some of the blame.

He'd broken both of the welp's legs and dragged him to the top of the Black Gate himself, where Hork had been waiting to hear of the results of his mission. What he hadn't expected was to see Gundza beat his own underling to death right there in front of him. Expecting forgiveness, the Shadow had been shocked to see disappointment etched into the face of his Warchief. He was told that forgiveness was something only weaklings begged for, and that a true member of the Black Gate Garrison would instead beg for their punishment instead to learn from their folly.

To show that type of cowardice, that shame, in front of him and his followers was an insult most unforgiveable. It had been too late to beg for a regular punishment, instead he'd been given a fate worst than any lashing, beating or mauling he could've been subjected to. He'd been turned into an exile, disgraced like many of those chief-less slime, like those taboo breaking sociopaths, he was now worthless in the eyes of his master. His soldiers followed him like the loyal ones they were, perhaps it was too bask in the new freedom being an exile offered. But that wasn't for Gundza, as loyal as he was the new position of a disgrace burned worst than any brand possible.

In a way, he supposed that should make him feel more sympathetic for the sap whose body he was using, the one who had also felt the burn of being shamed before all. But he wasn't weak enough for sympathy, and quickly thought back to that strip tease just to hear the sounds of the poor human whimpering in his head. The chuckle he released did not go unnoticed by the shopkeep, who snapped his fingers and regained the possessed man's attention. Instead of looking to him, Gundza's eyes traveled to the clock.

Almost immediately he gasped loudly and began hastily pulling all the bullet shells together and stuffing them back into the jar. The owner of the store saw the lack of tact with which he handled the small objects and quickly gestured angrily to him.

"Hey pal, careful with those!" he called as Gundza screwed the lid on tightly "You know, I should actually be charging you for touching th-"

He was silenced when the very jar of casings in question sailed into his face, shattering gruesomely as the force slammed him into the wall behind him.

 _Could you at least show some kind of restraint?!_

"No time!" Gundza said as he pulled the red tie from around his neck and quickly wrapped it around his hand "We're going to be late for the bus if we don't hurry!"

Once the tie was secured, he quickly punched his way through the display case "I will not have this plan be ruined by a little reminiscing!"

 **.-.**

"Hey kid, mind turning that thing off if it's just going to keep ringin' like that?"

Mercury lowered his scroll before glancing towards the front of the bus, in the reflective mirror he could see the bus driver giving him a slightly annoyed look. He gave an apologetic look before replying with "Sorry, friend of mine's acting kinda frantic right about now. Keeps calling and-"

"Well, I mean can you at least move farther back?" the driver asked, trying to be sympathetic whilst still keeping his eyes on the road "I mean it just keeps ringing."

"Hey man, I hear you." Mercury nodded before leaning back against the bus seat "Its just that I've kinda already gotten comfortable, be a shame to ruin relaxation like this."

"What are you doing Merc?"

The silver-haired boy glanced to the seat across from his, where his green-haired teammate was glaring at him with a look of annoyance which mirrored that of the bus driver's "Just move back already, don't make a scene."

"But Em, this seat, it calls to me."

The dark-skinned girl grumbled before turning to the bus drive and putting on her best apologetic smile "Sorry sir, my friend just likes being a pain when he can be."

Mercury's smirk grew, one who knew Emerald as long as he did knew that over ninety-seven percent of the green-haired girl's smiles were fake.

"Yeah, I know the type, but I can't properly escort you all if that thing keeps ringing so-"

"Know what? This is our stop up here anyway." the young man nodded towards an upcoming stop sign and locked eyes with the driver through the mirror "Guess it doesn't really matter, hm?"

Emerald groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose as the two made their way off the bus, the annoyed bus driver eyeing the grey-haired youth the entire way. As they got off, those waiting began to step on board, paying as they went. The green-haired girl waved back to the driver apologetically as they walked along the sidewalk, looking as sincere as possible before turning back on her partner with a frown.

"Do you just have this inherent urge to be an ass wherever you go?" Emerald accused as Mercury went back to tapping away at the small device.

"Hey don't blame me, the boss's been amping up her messaging the more those Orc things give the Fang problems." he said before pausing and turning on her "Come to think of it, she should be sending the exact same messages to you as well."

Seeing where he was going with that, Emerald immediately tried retracing "Now hold on, before you start running that mouth ag-"

"You turned off your scroll." Mercury said with a laugh "Holy crap, you couldn't handle it could you?"

As the two argued, Mercury was momentarily distracted by the sight of a guy in a black and red suit shoving people out of the way to get onto the bus. He recognized it as one of Junior's old guys, probably freaking out over the mess that occurred at their club. Usually Merc prided himself on not giving a damn about anything he didn't have to, but anything was better than listening to-

"Are you even paying attention to me?!" Emerald questioned

"Oh boy, I sure do wish I couldn't." he muttered before turning back around "I don't see why you're getting so defensive, last time the boss found out I was slacking I just got that whole reminder thing about what kind of hellish things she'll do to me if she catches me off target again. The one where she burns some random guy alive in front of you and promises to go slower once she finally gets to you. And I'm not even her favorite kiss ass so she might even just settle for some old fashioned physical abuse, and since _I'm_ the one responsible for being a kick-ass fighter it won't even effect your work too much."

He turned back to Emerald who's glare was overtaken by possibly fear or something while he prattled on about the possible punishments for this little tidbit, he found it amusing for a moment before her anger returned full force as she realized what exactly had been said.

"Wait, who are you calling a kiss-"

Before she could finish, they were interrupted by the sound of automatic weapon fire. They both turned back towards the bus along with several other pedestrians just as the Junior Goon from before tossed out the Bus Driver, who was now riddled with bullet holes. Someone screamed, and several people rushed to help as the doors closed and the bus took off.

 **.-.**

 _What the hell are we doing!?_

Gundza cackled as he got comfy in the driver's seat and pushed down on the accelerator, "Lucky we got here before the bus left, eh Tark?"

 _That doesn't answer my question!_

"The hell are you doing!?"

Gundza glanced in the overhead mirror to see one of the passengers apparently got the ballsy idea to approach him. That won't do. Rolling his eyes, Gundza reached one hand down to the duffel bag next to his seat as he kept an eye on the road. He pulled one of the weapons from the bag and reached around with it as the pathetic weakling got to him. In one smooth motion, he stuffed the barrel of the revolver into the man's mouth and pulled the trigger. Screams erupted from behind him as several of the other passengers were covered in the remains of the man's head.

The possessed man slid the revolver into his suit and wrapped both hands around the wheel once again as he began swerving to avoid several cars. Glancing into the mirror, he could see they had about seventeen prime hostages, not including the now headless one which collapsed behind him. After some searching over the vehicle's controls, he eventually found the intercom and reached to turn it on.

"Hello meat sacks, unless some of you are unaware, you're vehicle has currently been hijacked by an armed and dangerous little welp. That would be me, kicker is I'm planning on gunning down whichever one of you worthless peons decides to give me a hard time on our calm, collected little cruise here."

"You can't do this!"

"As far as I see I'm already in the midst of bloody doing it you mentally deficient maggot!"

The Bus lurched dangerously as Gundza made a turn, the very end of it slamming into a newspaper stand before it was properly leveled once more.

 _Quick question, do you even know how to drive?_

"Nope, but you're actually pretty good at it, so I'll just be borrowing from those inherent racing skills." the Uruk chuckled before speeding up

 _I have inherent racing skills?_

"That's what you take away from that statement?" Gundza rolled his eyes before pushing down on the pedal.

The terrified passengers were just now realizing how dangerously fast the vehicle they were in was going, and several had quickly buckled themselves in as the bus accelerated. One bit into her nails as she watched the world pass by from the window, watching horrified pedestrians gawk and back away from the street as they watched the hijacked vehicle barrel down the road. Ahead, the other cars tried desperately to get out of the way, but it was more do to Gundza's apt hands at the wheel that bus kept from crashing into any of them. Of course, that also meant that without anything to impeded their progress, they just kept building momentum.

 _I'm...this is my skill that's doing this?_

Gundza rolled his eyes at the body's former host sudden amount of self-confidence, but those eyes were suddenly drawn to one of the mirrors as sirens began blaring behind him. From what he could see of the vehicles, he could confirm that these were indeed the law enforcement of this city. If he was correct, then they'd soon have to deal with Atlas's occupational security.

"The first response eh, I expected more." he scoffed as he checked the road then reached back into the duffel bag and called out "Duck you insolent scum!"

Even the passengers who were stricken with fear through themselves against their seats once they saw the SMG in their captor's hand. Soon dust rounds exploded from the rear window of the bus, peppering the windows of the police cars. One spun out of control and crashed into a nearby building, as the others began spreading out along the road behind him.

"Oi tark, ain't this kinda like those races you wanted to do?" he uttered mockingly as he turned back to the road just in time to maneuver around another pedestrian vehicle.

Despite the mocking tone, Mitch had gone quite silent as he viewed the happenings around them. He remembered watching those racing shows as a kid, he remembered wishing to feel the excitement of speeding down a raceway, he remembered the sheer terror once he was speeding away from officers of the law. But for some reason, that didn't deter him as much as it did back when he was just the getaway driver. He suspected it had something to do with the shameless, brazen monster currently in control of his body. But either way, he couldn't help but love the sight of the road disappearing beneath them, the way the buildings besides them arrived and went the faster they drove, the way those cars in the rearview mirror seemed more and more like rival racers out on the track.

Mitch hated to admit that he was starting to enjoy this, this was the speed he'd always dreamed of during those long days of guarding at Junior's. Those hostages, those officers shooting at them, hardly any of that mattered when he was going fast, speeding along like a flash of lightning. And why should he slow down? The last time he tried slowing down Cynthia- that bitch!-ruined any hope he ever had of getting on the track like his old heroes. But here he was, back on track. And those bastards were trying to slow him down again? Probably just to make him feel as worthless as that treacherous sadist!

He saw a turn coming up, the sudden shift in Gundza's head jostled him out of his delirium just in time to realize the Uruk thing inside him was starting to show doubt. That wouldn't do, a real racer never lets an obstacle take him out of his element!

Gundza didn't know what was happening, at one point he was determining when he should pull the wheel, the next second the oddly blackened eyes of his receded as Mitch's subconscious gave an unexpected surge of will he hadn't been expecting from the junkie.

 _What!?_

But Mitch didn't answer, instead his grip on the wheel tightened before he jerked it to the side with stalwart force. The bus tilted dangerously once more, the front threatening to scrape against several floral arrangements as they skidded by. The few passengers who hadn't buckled up were suddenly thrown from their seats harshly as the vehicle they were in pulled off a maneuver it wasn't even built for.

Gundza only had a moment to be amazed within Mitch's head, before he regained his bearings and growled loudly in his subconscious.

 _You! What in Sauron's name did you just do!?_

"Shut it man, I'm driving here!" Mitch called out before pressing the gas the rest of the way to the floor "You were driving too slow!"

The Uruk was about to argue when he started tasting something in Mitch's head, a bit of fire in his soul that hadn't been there before. The faster they went, the more that fire burned. Gundza gave a considerate groan for a moment before chuckling.

 _Okay, Tark, if that's how you want it to go then have at it. You keep this bus going NO MATTER WHAT!_

"Just gotta get more room." Mitch muttered before checking a passing sign, he had to squint at it as they were now going far faster than recommended. Once he realized exactly how close they were to a highway merge, the realized speedster grinned as he wove his way through more of the sparse traffic.

* * *

 **Beacon Infirmary**

The sound of something plopping into a seat beside her bed made Ruby open her eyes to see the expectant face of her partner looking down on her.

"Weiss?" she said at first before yawning and raising a bit from her bed.

"Easy there, Ruby."

"I can manage, I've been getting-" she paused to yanw again and smile "lots and lots of beauty rest since yesterday. So how'd things go with Ozpin?"

"For better or worst," she gave a confident smile before pressing a hand to her own chest proudly "I believe we did exceptionally well given the circumstances."

"And then came here to give little old me a visit?"

The Heiress rolled her eyes before placing her head in her palm "I suppose, the second I arrived the doctor asked if I vould give you several essentials to help expedite your recovery."

"Oh...like better pillows?" Ruby gestured to the fluffy objects behind her before thinking of something else "What about Zwei? Did you bring him... or did you bring cookies?"

"No, Medicine you dunce." Weiss stated with a sigh before reaching beside her and producing a small assortment of pills and a Styrofoam cup of water "Those things that your body uses to recover, remember those?"

"I'll admit that I figured I'd have an easier time an administering these than him," Weiss commented as she looked over the items for a moment "seeing as how I've seen you do some pretty excessive things to get away from horrible flavors bef-"

"They taste bad?"

Weiss glanced up to find that Ruby had shifted to the opposite side of the bed in the seven seconds she'd taken her eyes off her and was now looking at her and the pills suspiciously. The Heiress narrowed her own eyes as she stood and walked over to the other side as well.

"Oh come on." The Atlesian said as she leaned over her Team Leader's form and gave her a stern look "After what we've been through lately, I'm more than certain a bit of medicine is more than tolerable Ruby."

Despite the initial resistance, Weiss managed to coax her partner into taking the pills. Reluctantly swallowing them with tiny gulps of water, Ruby immediately winced at the flavor as she leaned back down and stared up at the wall for a moment. Weiss watched her, her gaze softening as she watched tears start to form in her eyes.

Sighing, Weiss looked down for a moment before saying "Look, how about I go get you some of those cookies, hm? Will that make it better? I didn't think they'd taste too bad, really-"

"I couldn't do anything..."

Realizing what was really plaguing the little red-head's mind, Weiss let her expression grow a bit more solemn as more tears formed in the younger girl's eyes.

"I was right there... and yet... he took her..."

"Ruby, please don't start talking like that." Weiss said as she walked to a small drawer near the bed.

As she began looking through it, she scolded herself for being relieved at her partner's words. Yang HAD been taken by that infected hooligan, who knows for what unholy purpose. Despite concerns which could arisen from that, not one of them was assured that she was dead. This was still only a short-lived bit of relief from the near constant stresses which the Heiress had had to deal with lately, and soon she returned her gaze to Ruby before speaking "I think we both know that you fought tooth and nail for her, you did all you could."

"But-!"

"I don't want to hear it," Weiss interrupted before pulling a remote from the drawer and walking to a screen built into the wall opposite to Ruby's Bed "I already had this entire conversation with Blake about her self-doubts on what could've been, and I've come to expect that kind of stuff from her at this point."

She turned back on her leader "But I suppose I've gotten used to seeing you brimming with positivity." she admitted reluctantly as she began flipping through channels "And that's why we're going to find one of those ridiculous action shows you love so much, and you're going to at least try to feel better, okay? Someone on this team has to keep spirits high, and I'm...I'm not exactly a leading expert on morale support."

Ruby blinked at the admission, then tilted her head to the side a bit "I dunno Weiss, you're doing pretty good right about now."

"J-Just tell me when you see something you like."

Ruby smiled at that and leaned back, watching the channels pass by for a moment before looking at her partner "Where is Blake anyway?"

"After giving our report and still failing to help her get over her recent bout of worries, I instead shifted tactics." the Heiress recounted "We ran into Sun and Neptune, and once they mentioned they were planning on cruising around Vale with one of their teammates, I immediately encouraged her to join them. I figured being around people who more openly express their joy and excitement would be more therapeutic than being around...well...me I suppose."

"Weiss... I think you might be catching that self-doubt thing going around."

Weiss merely shot her a frown before going back to checking channels "Perhaps one day I'll be as well versed in the art of interpersonal consolation, but at the moment I find my results lacking."

"Do you really think a drive is going to help her?"

"Oh please, Ruby" Weiss glanced back to her "a relaxing drive through the wonderful city of Vale seems like just the relaxing thing she'd enjoy. If we're lucky, she might even stop by a bookstore on the way and-"

Weiss flicked to a news channel.

"The hijacker continues to elude Vale law enforcement with stunning dexterity, tearing across the streets of Vale without a single indication of a destination."

Blinking, the Heiress turned back towards the screen as footage played of a bus going speeding along a highway with several police cars trying and failing to keep up.

"Since taking the vehicle, the perpetrator has not given a single request to pursuing law enforcement, and so far seems to be travelling at random. Destroying public property and endangering the lives of dozens of pedestrians. The suspect is considered armed and dangerous, and has taken every passenger on board the vehicle hostage."

Ruby glanced at Weiss and immediately flinched at the mortified expression on the Schnee's face, so she swallowed a bit before leaning forward and giving a hopefully reassuring smile "Don't worry Weiss, what are the odds they'll run into that bus-Jacker guy anyway?"

* * *

 **The City of Vale**

"So you're saying this thing doesn't even have hydraulics?" Sun asked with a gasp

"Why on earth would I buy a bloody car with hydraulics?" Scarlet questioned as he tried to keep focused on the road

"Its the principal, man, you're an eligible bachelor with a large budget who wants a car. What unholy force compels you to forsake the stereotype of bouncing along the road with all your pals?"

Blake sighed as the back and forth continued, she leaned her head slightly out the back window of Scarlet's recently purchased car. The red-headed boy was behind the wheel, nervously attempting to keep an eye on the road while also continuing his verbal dispute with his team leader, who was sat in the back with Blake. Neptune was in the other front seat, but he'd kept silent for most off the debate in order to finish a bowl of soup he hadn't been able to finish at the shop they'd recently departed from... and probably to enjoy the spectacle of his two teammates arguing.

"I'll have you know this baby is a perfect mix of both speed and maneuverability." Scarlet defended his purchase with a harrumph before petting the wheel "Why would I compromise such reliability by adding unnecessary modifications anyway, I mean, besides bouncing what exactly do they do?"

"A-are you doubting the inherent power of the car bounce?" Sun looked as if his teammate had just insulted his mother, lowering his head and shaking it in pity "Dude... for shame."

Scarlet glanced to Sun suspiciously, "What? What power, what are you even talking about, lad?"

"Neptune, I don't think we can help him," Sun turned towards his still-eating friend with a sigh of defeat "he's...he's too far gone..."

"What is happening right now?"

At that exact moment, Neptune lowered his bowl and gave a depressed sigh as well "He was a good man, Sun, you did all you could."

"Neppy my boy, not you too!"

Blake wasn't even sure how the dispute started. Probably sometime at the noodle shop, Blake had been too distracted to continue keep up with their dialogue. She tried...tried so very hard not to keep thinking about Yang and Ruby. Tried not wondering what was happening to her partner, tried not questioning what those Uruks wanted with those White Fang grunts, tried not scolding herself for letting her worries get away from her again. Every time she's allowed herself to mull over negatives like this it always just leads to more trouble for her and those around her. But for some reason, she just...just couldn't help it...

"-ey Blake?"

The cat faunus blinked at the sudden use of her name and glanced back at Sun, who gave her an expectant look "I'm sorry, what was the question?"

"Wouldn't this car be better with some sweet 'draulics or something?" he reiterated, receiving a glare from Scarlet

"I..." she glanced to the side in thought for a moment "I'm not really that into cars."

"Ya don't have to be a mechanic to know what's cool or not." the other Faunus chuckled before leaning back in his seat and looking up with a look of determination "It's a feeling you get in your very soul."

"Oh please," their red-headed driver scoffed before turning to Neptune as he neared the highway "come on Nep, you should be the most knowledgeable out of all of us. This is still a pretty sweet ride, ain't it?"

Neptune gave a considerate look at the interior for a moment before snapping his fingers, garnering the attention of the other passengers as well "Actually, you know what would make this vehicle 80% percent better? A Junior Detective paint Job."

Sun's audible fist-pumping became the soundtrack to Scarlet's worsening expression "You two are not painting my new car!"

"Oh come on Scar," his team leader said as he leaned forward "a true police cruiser look would totally compensate for the lack of hydraulics."

"No hydraulics, no paint, I am putting the metaphorical foot down." Scarlet said with stalwart conviction as he reached for the radio "You lot are gonna end up ruining it at this rate."

Blake felt as though she should be taking more humor from this bit of banter than she was, but she just-

"Hey, turn that up!"

The sudden seriousness in Sun's tone was enough to distract Blake from her wayward thoughts, and so her attention was drawn to the radio along with Neptune's as Scarlet turned up the volume.

"The hijacker's now heading along the 741 Route Highway at unprecedented speeds, where Vale and Atlas officials have cordoned off civilian access and are setting up various blockades in an attempt to slow the vehicle down." the voice announced "Still no issued demands or contact made by the hijacker, who has been identified as 32 year old Mitchell Tethers and is considered heavily armed. Comparisons between this and the suspect's speculated past in auto-crime have led many to believe this to be the result of a mental breakdown brought on by the recent destruction of the venue he provided security for."

"Hey guys," the monkey-faunus garnered their gazes with a smile "wanna go racing with a hijacker?"

"But I just got this car!" their red-headed teammate whined "They said heavily armed, heavily armed and new cars aren't supposed to go together!"

"We'll fix it up for ya when we get that Paint-Job later." Neptune said before pointing forward "Come on now, you were the one who said this thing was a perfect mix of speed and maneuverability."

Scarlet glanced back desperately only to find his team leader smiling at him expectantly, glancing to Blake only to flinch back. The idea that he wouldn't assist simply out of fear for his vehicle did not sit well with her in any capacity.

Finding himself outvoted, Scarlet turned back to the window before sighing and shifting gears.

 **.-.**

It was pretty easy making their way to the highway, with Neptune predicting where the hijacker would go next based on the reports on the radio, Sun began laying down a plan as they drew closer to their destination.

"Okay, apparently he's going pretty fast, so we're going to have to slow that thing down before he ends up crashing or something." the blonde boy pointed out as he looked over his gun-chucks "Scar'll drive as close as possible while Neptune tries taking out the tires, without them, it should be harder for our perp here to keep speed. Meanwhile, Blake and I'll try to board the bus and take him on directly."

"Are you sure that's such a good idea?" Blake couldn't help but ask as they finally pulled onto the highway and began ascending "What if he grabs one of the hostages?"

"Well," he thought for a moment before smirking "then we'll just focus on the wheels if there's anyone in grabbing distance to him."

"I don't think so," Neptune interjected "with how dangerously he's driving it would be unwise to keep anyone within reach. If he's smart he'd realize how easily they could catch him off guard."

"Huh," his blonde leader glanced up "usually I'm hoping whatever punk I'm taking down is an idiot. First time for everything I gu-"

He never finished, the words dying in his throat as he spotted something in the rear mirrors. Blake noticed his sudden pause, glancing to the mirrors as well just as Sun shouted "Swerve!"

Catching his meaning, Scarlet pulled the wheel to the side quickly as a speeding bus barreled right past them.

"That's the hijacker?!" Neptune shouted "He's using a bus...That's impossible, buses aren't built for speed like that!"

His words had truth, for as Blake could see the transportation vehicle had no problem keeping ahead of the VCPD cruisers pursuing it. It would seem absurd in any other situation, but all she could really think about was what happened when that speeding hulk finally ran out of fuel?

Neptune was snapped out of his confusion by Sun, who leaned forward between the two front seats to shake Scarlet "Hey, either way he's getting away! Let's see what _this_ thing can do!"

 **.-.**

 _Is this... your semblance?_

Mitch could barely hear Gundza's contemplative voice, he was too busy whooping and hollering. The wind blowing through the open window, the sight of road vanishing beneath him like it was nothing. It was more than enough to distract him from the whimpers and cries from the terrified captives hunkering in their seats far away from him. And why wouldn't it? They were just jealous they couldn't produce speed like this!

 _I suppose it fits you in a way, all things considered_.

Mitch's smile was nearly ear to ear, things couldn't be better! The speed, he'd never imagined he'd be able to taste speed like this in his life. The rush of it was nothing like the rush off gresh, or a stiff drink. It was so...so much more REAL.

And yet, that reality was shattered by the sight which appeared before him. Almost immediately the smile left his face as his gaze landed upon a thick road block of police vehicles directly in his path. There were several spike strips being deployed in front of it, no doubt to forcibly slow him. Ahead one of the officers took a megaphone from one of the cruisers and began speaking into it, but Mitch couldn't care about that.

"Slow... they're trying to slow me!" he said as sweat began forming on his brow at the lack of alternative paths he could take "They want to take the speed from me! no way out!"

 _Calm down you griping buffoon! Only a weakling allows anything to stand in their way! Here, watch and learn!_

Irises darkening once more, the Uruk took control and grumbled before reaching into the duffel bag at his side.

Yelps came from behind as the passengers watched in horror as he withdrew a fully automatic assault rifle from the bag. Setting it up and aiming for the cars ahead, Gundza prepared to shoot before pausing at the sight of a large billboard on the other side of the street. A plan forming quickly, the Shadow grunted as he altered his aim and fired heavy rounds into the thick highway divider ahead.

 _What are y-?_

Gundza jerked the wheel towards the now weakened divider, and screams arose from behind as the entire bus smashed through it onto the other side of the highway. The front tore in various places, but the vehicle's sheer speed allowed it continue moving without slowing. Pulling the trigger once more, Gundza leveled the rain of bullets onto the lower portion of the billboard. He could hear the officer's pleas for him to stop growing more and more desperate as they slowly realized that the bus wasn't slowing down in the slightest. But the Uruk didn't let that distract him from firing away that the billboard... until finally it started falling.

"Tark, now!" the exile shouted as he lowered the weapon "Take the damn wheel already!"

Soon Mitch found his hands on the wheel once more, the panic already rising once more as the billboard fell atop several of the cruisers before him. But then he realized exactly what his dark possessor had done. His giddy expression returned in force as his grip tightened, and the cries of his hostages fell once more on deaf ears. The second the front tires drove atop the collapsed billboard, Mitch and Gundza both felt a shock of pride run through them they turned the assault rifle to the side and began firing.

Shocked at the spectacle, the officers watched as the bus drove along the sign, riding it right over their roadblock. It was only when one spotted the barrel of an assault rifle pointed their way that he yelled for them to hit the ground. A spray of heavy bullets rained among the line of vehicles and their drivers, some were thrown right off their feet as others hid.

The bus landed on the other side and continued on as the hijacker duo laughed simultaneously.

 _Glorious, meatsack! finally showing something of worth I see!_

Mitch felt the adrenaline flooding his system at what they'd just pulled off, breathing heavy as his eyes momentarily glanced in the rear view mirror.

His breath hitched at the sight of some car following over the sign after him.

 _Oh for the- what is it now!?_

Mitch squinted into the rearview mirror, and made out the forms of what looked like teenagers in that car.

 _Ah, young tarks ready to end their miserable lives before they have to suffer living long as a pathetic pink-skin. We shall grant their request with mettle and-what!?_

The Kruk's prideful words were cut short when his trained eyes spotted a familiar looking form in the backseat of that vehicle. It was the dark huntress whelp who traveled with the white one! What in Sauron's- why wasn't the white one with her?! Who were these men-filth maggots she was driving with? Whatever happened to teams?

"New racers eh?"

Gundza's angered thoughts dimmed as Mitch's words registered.

Mitch's grin spread to a dangerous level as his eyes focused once more on the road ahead "They won't be able to handle us! We're too fast for them!"

At least he wasn't immediately whimpering...wait. The Shadow thought on it, perhaps he shouldn't be surprised at this outcome. In all honesty this was a good turnout considering how many other Huntsmen could've responded first. In fact, this was a golden opportunity.

The car skidded behind the bus, Sun sticking his head out to look inside before smiling and leaning back in "Okay, our boy doesn't look like he's got any human shields in range."

"Then we just need to take him down and get ahold of the wheel," Blake said while keeping her gaze firmly locked on the bus's driver's seat "but it'll have to be simultaneous."

"No problem, I'll distract him while you use those fancy ninja skills of yours to make it to the wheel." Sun offered

"And I'll see if I can shoot out the tires," Neptune said while hefting his weapon

"Right... and keep Scar from freaking out."

The blue-haired intellect frowned at that and glanced at their driver, who was none too pleased with the turn of events "60,000 lien and two weeks of research down the drain."

Neptune turned back to his leader "Seriously?"

"Break!"

Opening his door, Sun leaned out as they came up behind the speeding vehicle. However, before he could make a jump for it, he spotted the hijacker levelling an assault rifle towards him.

"Turn right, turn right!" he shouted, the car banking to the side as a hail of bullets tore the rear door of the bus off and sent it skittering along the street behind them. Pulling himself on top of Scar's car, Sun steadied himself before leaping onto the bus.

"Get off my ride jackass!" he heard the hijacker yell as he pulled himself on top of the vehicle, trying to steady himself once more. Glancing back, he smirked at the sight of Scarlett maneuvering to the other side of the stolen bus and Blake readying herself for her part of the plan. And the sound of more bullets brought his attention back in front off him, where bullet holes appeared in the roof of the vehicle rapidly as Mitch tried hitting him. Eyes-widening, Sun backpedalled quickly. Snapping his gun-chucks together into his staff, he slipped off the back of the bus and spun his staff as he gripped the roof of it and swung inside.

"Gotcha!" the hijacker yelled as he trained his gun on him, but Sun was quicker.

Whipping his staff up, he fired a bullet which tore through the top of the assault rifle, effectively ruining it.

"What the-?!" Mitch cried before his eyes darkened "Cheap tark shite!"

Spotting Sun racing towards him, Gundza tossed the weapon and grabbed the wheel in both hands before jerking it roughly to the side, immediately throwing off Sun's footing as the vehicle lurched.

 **.-.**

"And don't even get me started on the insurance!"

Neptune ignored his teammate's complaints and turned to Blake, who was now leaning out of her door as their driver positioned close to the speeding bus "You ready?"

Blake nodded, but her face soon contorted into one of shock as the bus suddenly lurched towards them. Scarlet hit the brake, slowing them down just enough to get out of the way as the bus moved to the other side of the highway. More gunshots rang out from within the vehicle as Scarlett tried giving Blake another vantage to jump from. But then the bus suddenly spun to the side.

As if all of its weight had been thrown against the wheel, the Bus rammed into the side of Scarlet's car with enough force to nearly throw Blake out of it. As their driver struggled to right his vehicle, Blake grabbed hold of the door and held strong before she could be fully dislodged. Seeing the bus rear back for another go, she quickly hopped onto the red-head's hood and leaped. Leaping off a shadow clone of herself, she gained the lift she needed to reach the front of the bus. At her position, if she could just climb up then perhaps she could reach through the driver side window and get ahold of the wheel.

Pulling herself up, she slowly crawled along the front of the speeding vehicle as more gunfire rang out from inside.

"Just die already!" she heard the hijacker shout before the bus lurched again. Her foot slipped, forcing her to steady herself dangerously for a moment before finding yet another grip. The front of this thing was a wreck due to crashing through that median earlier, but she could manage. Pulling herself to the driver's side, the Faunus spotted Sun through the windows. The blonde team-leader deflecting bullets fired at him, steadily inching forward due to the momentum getting thrown about every time the hijacker jerked the wheel.

But Blake couldn't focus on that, the driver's window was open and he seemed thoroughly caught up in dealing with Sun, all she had to do was reach forward and grab hold before he spotted her. Reaching forward, Blake might've been able to reach it if it weren't for the sudden shift in vertigo. Apparently Neptune had succeeded in shooting out one of the tires, because the Bus suddenly shifted dangerously as the sound of metal screeching along the road reached all of their ears. The Hijacker cursed and focused on regaining control of his vehicle.

"No! Stop! I can't slow down again, damn it!"

Blake struggled to keep her grip true, but eventually one of her hands did indeed slip as more pieces of the bus's front slipped away. She kept losing her grip as the bus swerved dangerously, finally giving in and reaching for the top of the grill on the front of the bus, knowing that it would put her in the driver's direct line of sight. Sure enough, once she finally was secure she glanced up and locked eyes with the Hijacker, who gave her a confused look before something strange happened.

Right before her gaze, Mitch's eyes suddenly began filling with this inky blackness. At the same time, a malicious scowl spread across his face as he began speaking in a much gruffer, throaty voice than she expected.

"There you are!" he growled out before whipping a revolver towards her, forcing her to slip down as bullets and glass whizzed over her head. He quickly turned his weapon on an advancing Sun, until they both shifted dangerously as another tire was shot out. The Hijacker's growl deepened as he quickly thought of an out, with Sun quickly regaining his footing he had to think fast. And so he did.

Suddenly the bus was aimed for the edge of the highway, the safety wall suddenly approaching at high speeds. Realizing she'd be crushed against it immediately despite the vastly reduced speed, Blake acted on instinct and pulled herself higher. Almost immediately she came face to face with the barrel of a revolver and immediately left a clone behind as she dodged to the side. Gripping onto the edge of the window as her clone took the bullet and was flung from the bus, Blake's free arm shot forward and grabbed hold of the Hijacker before he could fire the next one, his face contorting into an enraged frown as Sun tried to reach them before the-

When the bus impacted with the safety wall, Blake and Mitch were both flung from the vehicle and careened down from the highway to the industrial yard below. Blake wasn't concerned, she'd survived greater falls than this, it was the Hijacker she wasn't to sure about. She'd lost her grip on him when they'd been dislodged from the bus, which she could see had slowed down enough to keep from falling the rest of the way off the highway. That was a relief, she could trust Sun and his pals to get the hostages to safety while she restrained the Kidnapper.

Speaking of which, she reached for the hilt of her weapon as her keen hearing picked up the sound of a pistol cocking over the rushing wind. Twisting towards the falling hijacker, Blake dashed past him with a slash to his aura, dodging under his bullet in the process. She took a note to focus on just how unnaturally dark his Aura was, muddled with sickly blacks and greys, before bringing her blade up to deflect the next few bullets.

The buildings below grew ever closer, and Blake oriented herself to land on her feet. Skidding along a roof, she kept her gaze locked on Mitch, who rolled towards her while raising his revolver again and charging her. Ducking to the side of the first bullet, Blake intercepted him, sliding under a swing of his fist and getting the leverage needed to kick him away. She hadn't anticipated him to stumble back and end up tripping off the edge of the building, a loud impact sounding from below. She wasn't sure how much of his Aura he had left, it had seemed strong when she'd hit it but... A quick glance over the edge confirmed that he was indeed still alive, just rolling angrily off of a now-dented dumpster.

"Stupid maggot." he grumbled out in that gruff voice of his as he got back to his feet "Stubbornness runs in all you filth."

Blake landed several yards from him and spun to point her weapon at him "You, do us both a favor and stand down, you've lost."

"No!"

The raven-haired girl paused at that, did his voice just got up several octaves? And that inkiness in his eyes vanished along with that weathered tone.

"I won't let you slow me down again! It only brings pain!" Mitch said before tightening a fist in defiance "I finally get to be happy and everything just keeps trying to make a fool of me!"

Glancing to the side momentarily, Blake took a breath "Sir, just give up. You've already gotten-"

His eyes darkened once more as he growled "Shut your cunt mouth up, Tark!"

And there it was again, while on the bus she'd been focused on slowing the vehicle and protecting the citizens, but now Blake could take the time to notice how oddly specific he'd change his voice and attitude occasionally. A mental illness of sorts? And that term, Tark. She'd only heard it spoken by Uruks, had he come into contact with them recently?

He stood straight and pointed a finger towards her "I went through quite the ordeal tracking you to your hidey hole, wench." that commanding tone uttered disdainfully as he lowered his finger and scoffed "And yet here you stand expecting me to give up on my hunt so easily."

Okay, that was not what she had been expecting from the guy who just stole a bus.

"This one gave me lots a trouble, but he's proved more than useful enough in bringing me to you." he massaged his neck with a scowl "A step closer to my target."

So this whole thing was designed to draw her out? He seemed to recognize her when they locked eyes on the highway, so that's not too much of a stretch. But what was the end goal here?

"But if I hop into you, then she'll come to me for sure!" Mitch took another step forward before his eyes emptied once more of that black inky color "You won't stop me! Won't slow me down!"

As he spoke, he kept stepping forward. Blake stepped back only from the sheer oddity of what was occurring before her. His eyes kept shifting between that black color to their regular tone. Each time he did he kept changing between those two voices, but as his anger piqued the difference became less and less noticeable.

"I won't ever let anyone slow me down again!" "I will never surrender in such a show of weakness!" "I'm better than that!" **_"Better than you Tark!"_**

Blake took a cautious step back at that, the two voices were now speaking the same words simultaneously. Something dark appeared on the hijacker as he took off his suit jacket, revealing to holstered pistols as he tossed it to the floor.

"I'll show you." he chuckled, drawing those pistols as that dark form took shape. It almost looked like a shadowy humanoid was transposed on top of the man, making them both look a bit blurred. But even with how they obscured each other, Blake could identify that the second figure looked as if it was pulling a spear from its back.

Mitch pointed forward with one of his pistols just as the shadow pointed with his spear _**"A speed demon like me never slows down! He just runs over anything in his way! Get ready to be mulched under my wheels ya shrakh!"**_

Before Blake could question further on what exactly was happening, the hijacker raced towards her pistols raised and the shadowy form disappearing inside him as he did so. Instinct kicking in, Blake immediately lunged to the side and swiped her blade through the air several times to deflect several oncoming bullets as Mitch opened fire. Once his weapons clicked empty, the huntress altered her course and instead dove for him before he could finish reloading. Before she could reach him, that shadowy figure stepped away from him swinging its spear in an upward arc which forced her to leap back.

Just as she caught her footing once more, Mitch charged through the dark form pistols raised. Swinging Gambol shroud up, Blake began deflecting the bullets as she backed away from the onslaught. Finally spotting a hole in his offensive, the Faunus ducked under a recently discharged bullet and slashed his side only for that shadowy form to slip out of him once more and deflect her blade with its spear. Before she could back up, the Hijacker swung his pistol into her head whilst pulling the trigger. The force of both the gun and the bullet impacting against her aura threw Blake away from him.

She immediately tried pushing off the ground, but the second her gaze was raised she saw the man's foot speeding towards her. She threw her self out of the way, Gambol Shroud shifting into its pistol form as she tried capitalizing on her position. But even though he was still recovering from his failed kick, that damn shadow reappeared and began spinning its spear to deflect the bullets as he spun back towards her.

This was bad, from how things appeared to her she had somehow put herself up against two opponents at once. She'd have to treat the shadow as a separate individual, as it seemed aware of attacks that the Hijacker wasn't. If that was the case, she'd only be able to get through their guard by catching them both by surprise at the same time. But they were in the same body, she couldn't plan around an enemy that only appeared to counter. At least not without time, time the hijacker's speedy methods of attack easily deprived her of.

The man raised one of his pistols and gestured towards her with a chuckle, the shadowy form inside him occasionally becoming visible _**"We'll see just how fast you are after I blow out both of your knees, Tark. You can't beat me on your own!"**_

"That's what she has me for, pal!"

The new voice made Mitch's smile disappear as he turned to glance up, eyes widening as Sun's form descended from above staff mid-swing. Yelping in surprise, the Hijacker immediately crossed his pistols and caught the staff between him, the downward force sending him to one knee. Realizing his host had let himself get distracted, Gundza peaked behind them to see Blake already darting towards them.

Stepping away with a spear raised, Gundza growled as he swung it. With Mitch's focus elsewhere, Blake was able to maneuver around the shadow and slash at his sickening aura. The Uruk roared before sinking back into Mitch and throwing Sun off them. Now standing between the two hunters-in-training, Mitch seemed to struggle to maintain his confidence.

"So," Sun began as he straightened up and smirked at the dark duo "what's up with the whole having a guy inside you thing? Ghost of former partner come back for revenge? Lab experiment gone terribly wrong? Possessed by upset ancient spirits?"

That last one got Blake's attention, but she didn't have enough time to focus on it before Mitch stood tall.

 ** _"More roadblocks for this Speed Demon to crash through,"_** Mitch muttered _**"annoyances to be forgotten once their crushed bones are in my rearview mirror!"**_

"Really taking the driving shtick to the next level, eh?" the monkey-faunus twirled his staff casually before adopting a ready stance.

The shadowy form stepped out of the Hijacker once more and faced Sun while gripping its spear in both hands. Mitch suddenly took a knee and swung both pistols towards the two Faunus and opened fire, both deflecting as the shadow leaped back onto his shoulders and dove towards Blake. She deflected the tip of the spear with her sheathe as Sun ran to the side evading the gunfire. He managed to reach Mitch and deflect several more bullets before sweeping his legs out from under him.

As if realizing his host's peril, the shadow leaped back out of Blake's reach and deflected the next swing of the staff while Mitch pulled himself from the ground.

The former bouncer spotted Blake incoming and fired at her, but she managed to slide under his bullets and leap with a slash which sent him stumbling backwards.

In that moment of respite, the combatants took note of sirens in the distance. Seems the local law finally recuperated from that mess at the roadblock.

 _ **"Guh! Need to move faster."** _ Mitch grumbled as the shadow leaped back inside of him **_"Can't lose this lead, not now!"_**

As he spoke, the shadowy form pulled back and lobbed its spear at Blake, which she ducked under only to back up as Mitch lunged forward and fired. The shadow stayed behind and pulled another spear from its back as it faced Sun, who was already leaping towards it. It brought up its spear to block, but Sun merely leaped off it, forcing the dark figure to take several steps back before swinging its spear forward again. Sun leaned out of the way while spinning his staff, firing several shots from it which caught the shadow off guard and once more caused it to reluctantly adopt a more defensive stance.

Blake was much more capable of taking Mitch on without that thing covering for him, he kept firing his pistols at her, only for her to slide past them and slash at that disgusting aura of his. It was growing weaker, just a few more good strikes.

The tipping point, however, came from Sun instead. After finally getting used to the ranged capabilities of his staff, the Shadow had gone back on the offensive, more easily evading both swings of the weapon as well as bullets. But then the blonde smirked...

And suddenly his staff was a pair of gun-chucks.

An audible curse came from the Shadow as he was violently forced onto the defensive, unable to properly adjust to the significant shift in fighting style in time to avoid the next flurry of attacks. It was enough to make it lose its form and travel back to Mitch, who was unprepared when Sun's foot connected with the back of his head. The Hijacker spun towards Sun with a yelp before a quick swing of the leg threw the former bouncer off his feet.

Blake saw the opportunity, right as Mitch was descending towards the ground and the Shadow was preparing to jump back out to cover for him. Crouching low, she darted forward with Gambol Shroud and its sheathe gripped tightly. Lunging with both of them into the falling speedster with enough force to send him sailing away. But she saw as his Aura shattered, the ghastly colorations seemed to bleed away from it leaving a much more natural color. As the coloration bled away, the shadowy form inside of him seemed to be dislodged from him and was flung from its host. As it did, it began taking a more recognizable shape, and Blake's eyes widened as it landed in a nearby dumpster.

Mitch collapsed to the ground with a groan, the pistols having slipped from his hands after that last attack. He coughed violently as the two huntsmen approached, a weak mumble came from betwixt his lips before his eyes snapped open.

"Captain?" he said as he placed a hand to his head "You still there!? Come on! I need that confidence man, where'd you go?!"

"Any idea what he's talking about?" Sun leaned towards Blake "Blake?"

But Blake kept walking past both of them towards the dumpster, immediately leaning over it to try and find that form. Where was it? She was positive she saw it take the shape of an Uruk, did it sink into the garbage or-?

"Hey uh, you okay over there?" Sun asked while keeping the now panicked hijacker in sight

"Did you not see it?" She turned back to him

"See what?"

"That shadow!"

"I saw the thing go flying from that finisher of yours." the monkey Faunus replied with an appreciative smile before nodding down to Mitch "Don't think this guy'll be making another one of those anytime soon."

"I don't wanna be slow again, Captain please!" the hostage taker said as those sirens finally closed in.

Sun could spy the flashing lights on the highway above, and spotted several Atlesian airships en route. He turned back to Blake, who seemed adamant in searching that dumpster.

"I know he landed here," she said with a determined look "maybe it-gah!"

She was interrupted in her search when a large rat leaped from the dumpster at her. Quickly getting over her shock Blake tossed the scrambling creature away from her in annoyance, only for her annoyance to turn to confusion at a strange sight.

When the rat landed roughly on the ground, its aura flared to protect it from injury. Its aura looked sickly... just like-

"YOU RUINED IT ALL!"

Attention was now drawn to Mitch, who suddenly lunged towards Blake while pulling a collapsible baton from his pocket. Sun moved to intercept, but without that shadow or aura Blake was easily able to kick her attacker's leg in and knock him unconscious with the sheathe of her weapon. With that taken care of she quickly glanced back towards the rat... which was gone.

* * *

 **AN: Welp, this turned out far larger than I had anticipated. I suppose I shouldn't make any more suppositions on when might I update, as so far I just end up jinxing myself. Either way I suppose I should feel a smidgen of pride for reaching over 100,000 words, but then I realize that I'm not even halfway done yet and realize that victory is not here yet. In all honesty I can safely say that the vigor to buckle down and finish this chapter no matter its length came from the shadow of war trailer, which I can safely say has my level of hype adamantly raised. It has been about two months since the last update, and I am truly sorry for those who I've made wait for this.**

 **Now then, let's talk Gundza.**

 **During my experience of playing SOM, Gundza was nowhere near as long-lasting as some of the other opponents I had to face like Krimp or Bubol. But what he lacked in longevity he more than made up for in impression. As stated before he was basically what I considered the end of a rival story I dubbed the Stalking Arc. He just showed up one time during a confrontation with the Prowlers, who at that point I'd been able to counter fine. And then Gundza showed up with his Inspiring Presence Perk and suddenly he and the Prowlers were tearing me apart every time they spawned together. Identifying him as the thread holding them together I singled him out and slew him, which immediately made my time dealing with the rest of the ambushers easier. And then I tried taking on Hork, only to find him right there at his side, insulted that I would raise arms against his glorious master. And of course, who else would show up but his entire entourage of Prowlers there to aid the Black Gate Defender in annihilating me. Sure enough, he remained quite the thorn up until his eventual demise.**

 **Anyway, I suppose that'smore than enough for now.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoy, any and all criticisms positive or negative are welcomed in full so leave a review if you are so inclined to do. Follow or Favorite at your leisure and I will see you all in the next installment of The Dreamer Gate.**

 **Next Chapter:** **Blood: Storm & Axe**


	8. Chapter 8: The Blood - Storm & Axe

**Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of The Rings, the Middle-Earth universe, Shadow of Mordor or RWBY.**

 **This work will contain moments of intense violence, dark and dirty humor, and canonical divergences.**

* * *

 **Blood - Storm & Axe**

Dozens of Uruk corpses lay scattered around the repository of the Talos Mine, the only building to withstand the test of time. Covered in gashes that could've only come from a notably sharp blade, the frozen looks on their faces ranged from confusion to primal rage. Some still clutched their weapons while others seem to have lost them in the skirmish, evidenced by the random assortment of weaponry scattered about almost as haphazardly as the dead Uruks themselves.

The trail of dead led directly to the front door of the repository, where the sound of frenzied gunfire could be heard within. Through broken windows figures could be seen moving quickly, a quick figure darting between three others until eventually it dashed towards one of them and sent Ogbur flying out of one of the crumbling windows. The Uruk tried steadying himself as he skidded along the roofing, pushing himself to his hands and knees and looking up just as Adam darted out towards him. He raised his gun to defend against the sudden slash of Wilt which spun him to the side. Adam dashed by him as he spun, slicing into his aura as he did so. He spun around with Blush to continue the combo until the sudden oncoming rifle round forced him to raise Wilt to deflect it.

In that time Gimub managed to race past a still-disoriented Ogbur and charge Adam with the bayonet of his gun, Adam spun past the laughing maniac just in time to take several pot shots at Dush, who had been keeping to the edge of the battle the entire time. The movements of a shadow at the edge of his view signaled for Adam to dodge out of the way of Ogbur, who swung his shotgun like a club with enough force to smash through the first story roof of the repository.

"Stop moving so much you filth!" the Uruk barked as he moved to tear his gun out of the roof.

Adam couldn't capitalize, as the sudden loud laughter to his side brought his attention back to Gimub who was already mid-leap with his weapon raised. Adam ducked under the swinging bayonet and shoved the butt of Blush into the soaring Uruk's gut, forcing him back onto the ground. Gimub recovered quick, swinging his machine-gun through the air whilst pulling the trigger. Adam leaped over the arcing spray of bullets and landed behind Gimub,who quickly spun with his gun. The Faunus spun, sweeping the Uruk's legs out from beneath him while raising Blush towards him. A single shot sent him flying towards Ogbur,making them both stumble off the roof to the ground below as the red-headed swordsman walked to the edge and looked down at them.

Gimub was still laughing like a madman, even as Ogbur shoved him off himself and scrambled to his feet. Adam merely raised Blush towards them when a poorly broadcasted pair of footsteps made him sigh before sweeping his leg behind him. Dush's attempt at a sneak attack soon shifted to him spinning head over heels off the roof while flailing wildly.

The well-spoken Prowler crashed into Ogbur, who had just been getting his bearings, forcing the larger Uruk to stumble back before he could angrily throw his smaller accomplice off him. The shotgunner raised a fist and prepared to yell at Dush before a dust round impacted with his head and forced him back once more.

Dush yelped before noticing the growing dark circle around him and rolling to the side as Adam crashed into the ground beside him blade-first. Before the Uruk could raise his rifle, the bottom of Adam's boot connected with his chin and flung him into the air. The Faunus spun as his quarry descended, and pulled his sword through Dush's throat before he could even touch the ground.

"Dushy boy down! Dushy boy down!"

Adam turned back towards the more manic of his three opponents, who seemed humored at the sight of his partner's death. He slid another magazine of dust rounds into his machine gun, the larger Prowler growled at the sight before turning his anger on his giggling cohort.

"Don't just stand there laughin' at him!" he yelled before gesturing towards the Faunus with his shotgun "Get to the killin' already!"

Gimub smiled wildly before dashing towards him swinging his bayonetted weapon, it clashed against Wilt several times until Adam carved into the Prowler's aura and sent him spinning. Still maniacally laughing, he turned with the spin and swung his machinegun whilst pulling the trigger.

The swordsman ducked under the arc of bullets before dashing past him. Gimub turned to continue firing before suddenly stumbling, he struggled to catch himself as the smile momentarily formed into a confused frown. Glancing down, the Prowler saw that his lower right leg had been entirely lobbed off.

Capitalizing, Adam raced towards him as he tried desperately orientate himself with his sudden lack of limb. A large hand reached from behind Gimub and tossed him away as Ogbur raised his shotgun. Adam lunged forward and kicked the barrel of the weapon upward as it fired, bullets spreading harmlessly into the air as Wilt was dragged through the Uruk's aura again. Ogbur backed up and fired again, only for Adam to slip past his gun and thrust his blade into the large Prowler's gut. Aura failing, the shotgunner upchucked some blood as Wilt's tip pierced through his back. Spinning Blush, Adam prepared to finish him when the tip of a bayonet entered his vison.

The Faunus leaped out of the way before turning to spot Gimub, who had resumed giggling as he turned his weapon back on him. Raising an eyebrow, Adam glanced down to see that the Uruk was using his dead ally's rifle to steady himself without the support of his right leg. Behind him, Ogbur gawked at his ally, even more shocked than the Faunus was.

"You're still going?!" he yelled incredulously as Gimub laughed harder and opened fire.

It was a trivial matter for Adam to deflect the bullets as he dashed towards them, but he hadn't been expecting the laughing Uruk to began spewing dark fog from his mouth. The shock of it made Adam slow to a stop before immediately throwing an arm over his mouth, so it would seem at least one of them had discovered his semblance. Still, the mad Uruk must have severely underestimated his hearing, since the footsteps were still prevalent over the smoke screen he'd thrown up.

So when Gimub threw himself at the Faunus, Adam was easily able to easily swing back. The Uruk must have noticed his plan, as his laughter turned into a gasp of shock as he fell upon Wilt chest-first. Adam prepared to finish the Uruk before he could start laughing again, but the sudden cocking of a shotgun at his side made him forego that entirely in favor of releasing Wilt's handle and leaping up just as a spray of shotgun fire tore through Gimub.

The Faunus nimbly sailed over Ogbur, who looked up in disbelief before panicking and trying to swing the barrel of his gun around. Adam landed and immediatyely fired a round into Ogbur's arm, throwing his aim off before he could even hope to set it. The Uruk tried swinging his fist, only for the red-haired radical to duck under that and fire another round into his chest. Adam rolled past a shotgun blast and spun Ogbur around before firing a flurry of bullets into his chest, the last one tossing the Uruk against the wall of a nearby building which he slid down pitifully as his black blood stained the ground around him.

Adam stepped over the dying Uruk, who hacked up more blood violently before looking up to see the barrel of blush trained him "Guh..." he muttered weakly "...should I even... be surprised?"

The incoming bullet seemed unwilling to give an answer.

* * *

 **The Sandy Expanse: Abandoned Drilling Station**

"Let her be remembered!"

A clash of metal cans.

"Let her spirit live on!"

Clash!

"Let the mighty Uruk-Hai keep her fury going strong!"

Uthug felt the veins in his head popping as the merry song continued, sitting amongst the four Uruks who were now sitting around a small fire in front of Gretchen's grave. Borgu had insisted she be present, and apparently the only way to get that to happen was have their little farewell ceremony right in front of her. Honestly, if the Poet didn't have some makeshift grog on hand, the Musket-wielder would have no reason to stay amongst these fools. Tuka seemed adamant in appeasing Borgu for the time being, at least till they could nab some of the rations he'd been sitting on, and was even joining in the merry song between him and Zog. Seemed like he was in heaven, his own voice mixing with the Poet's with gusto.

"This is what you monsters call a funeral?"

The song tapered off as the Uruks turned to their fifth associate, the Faunus tark Zog had been lugging around.

"Ugh, why couldn't we just toss her outside while we's do this shrakh ceremony?"

"And risk her getting away?" Tuka rolled his eyes "Your lack of foresight is becoming familiar."

"'Sides," Borgu stood tall and patted the crashed loader behind him "my Gretchen deserves as many attendants to her farewell party as possible!"

"How is this a farewell?!" she barked "Bad enough you're giving that demonic creature any form of respect, but all you've done is drink and sing!"

"We's Uruks, lady." Zog spoke up before scooping more food out of his can "We celebrate nearly anything with a good ol' feast. Say your boss is dead, you get ya pals together and commemorate him by filling ya belly nice and full, in honor of all the weaklings he'd crushed in life!"

"And if he was shrakh then ya drink to finally being rid of him." Uthug tossed in while drinking some old alcohol from a filth-covered canteen.

"Respect should be given to anything capable of slaughter," Tuka said evenly as he looked to where the deathstalker died "despite how weak it was to fall to a party of disorganized travelers such as us. No doubt a beast of its size must have bathed in the blood of many an enemy. Oh if only their bodies stayed, I'da made a nice suit of armor from her bones."

"Hey!"

They turned to Borgu, who glared at Tuka before folding his arms "Weapons! Gretchen would've wanted her body to be weapons! So she could keep takin' lives after death!"

The Faunus coughed as she listened to them prattle on, eyes twitching in fury. These things were disgusting, horrific creatures on par with the Grimm an humans, but they didn't even bother hiding their ill-intent behind some silken sheet of false sympathy like humans did. In some ways she guessed that made them better, but that did nothing to staunch the hatred that formed the longer she was forced to be near them.

"So what exactly do you plan to do once we leave?" Tuka questioned the Poet after stuffing some more canned meat into his jaws.

"Hn, haven't thought too much on that actually." Borgu conceded before flopping down beside the fire "Originally came here to wait out the trouble the boys would dreg up while getting used to the place, then after that I just wanted to be with Gretchie. Now that she's gone I guess I'll have to get back to me usual routine."

"How you gonna be a wanderin' minstrel if ya don't even know the land that you're in?" Uthug laughed mockingly

"You think I knew where I was when doin this back in Mordor? I'd just walk until I found someplace."

"Perhaps, but maybe you could find some assistance before simply wandering off." the Berserker spoke as he wiped some stray meat from his lips and glanced towards him "Bet the Warchiefs know more about this land than any of us."

"You lot are fitting to get back to the Warchiefs?" the lyricist asked with wide eyes "But didn't you leave 'em in the first place?"

"Back then it seemed more ideal to hook up with the deserters," Tuka admitted "with Hork out of commission and that fool Tugog runnin' things, I was certain they'd all eat each other in due time. However, more and more chief-less gangs have been antagonizing this world's higher players, folks with militaries behind them. If they kick the hive too much the pests will end up eating them alive."

"Its what you foul things deserve!" the girl shouted through bared teeth "Attacking the Fang like this! Killing and stealing from us like savages. I hope you all get hung and shot for this!"

"Zog," Uthug groaned "please shut this emergency meal up before I dig in too early."

"But wasn't you guys doin the same thing to the humans even before we showed up? Killing and stealing from them like gutter trash they are?" Zog felt compelled to ask before turning to his peers "That sounds far more like some kinda hilarious irony, eh?"

"Don't even compare us to those racist bigots!"

"Sorry lass, but you look like filthy tarks for the most part, act like filthy tarks, and make me want to vomit just because you exist...like filthy tarks." Uthug shrugged as he picked at some left over meat, pausing for a moment to smirk in the face of her growing rage "Only real difference being that ya smell like some shite hybrid on top of it. As if a tark gave into his baser urges and bedded some brain dead animal and produced your disgusting race of sub-human garbage in the process."

"Save some breath there," Tuka commented off handedly "as fun as it would be to watch, you passing out from lack of oxygen would be a hassle to deal with. I was merely making the point that at the rate things are going, joining back up with the Warchiefs will be our best bet."

"Oh really?" Uthug called out as he stood straight and walked into a crumbling storage room in back to procur another can of old meat, hee came back already digging in as he issued his next question "Well how exactly are we supposed to get them to let us back in anyway? In case you haven't known, Horkie boy's got a real thing against deserters."

"Because we'll be coming back with information beneficial to him."

The warrior was in the midst of scooping out some more sustenance from the can when he paused at his words and glanced to the side thoughtfully "Ah, so that's why you brought the body."

"What body?" Zog asked with a quirked eyebrow

"Yep," the Berseker leaned back with a smirk "I saw those responsible for Captain Ashgarn's death, we give up their identities and Hork's anger will turn to them instead of us. Everything else just relies on you lot not making asses of yourselves, so let _ME_ do the talking."

"What body?" Zog was standing now

"Leave it to you?" Uthug scoffed "I'll have you know that I can be surprisingly silver-tongued when stricken with terror."

"Probably loose-lipped too if your track record says anything."

"Come on guys, what body?"

"The fat one you've been lugging around!" shouted the Faunus "God I'm not even supposed to care and I picked up on that already!"

"You've been carrying the corpse of a Warchief's sibling all this time?" Borgu asked in shock before smiling "I could probably make a right fancy ballad about that!"

"There will be no ways to accurately describe what hell I will put you through if you do." Uthug bit

"Come now, the poet waved it off "a small group of Uruk-Hai trying to find their way back to their master to tell him that his brother tragically lost his life in battle, it practically demands a musical adaptation!"

"Then why don't ya come with us?"

All eyes were on Tuka now, who casually sniffed at a can of peeches before using one of his nails to carve the lid off.

"Really?!" Zog asked excitedly

"Have ya lost ya damned mind?!" Uthug yelled before jerking a thumb back towards the Shield-Barer "I'm having a bad enough time with one of these musically inclined worms, you want to just cram in another?!"

"Sure, why not?" the Berserker answered casually before glancing to the Poet in question "We'll get you to the Warchiefs, I know a select few still with them who'd probably love having some more drinking songs."

"No, we are not doing this!"

"I suppose there ain't nothing keeping me here," Borgu said, patting the engravings on the loader before shrugging "I don't see why I wouldn't hook up with you lot, oh we'll tell so many a tales together!"

"No no no!"

"Perfect, guess we should take your stores of food with us when we leave tomorrow then, eh?"

"Oh, I can handle that! Lots of things to carry cans in 'round here!" the Poet hopped to his feet and strode into the storage room whilst humming a tune.

Tuka smirked, now that they didn't have to steal his food, all that mattered now was picking up a bit of metal for the road. Suffice it to say that their weapons were going to lose effectiveness long before they reached the tower if they kept using them. He'd be a fool not to plan for such. None of them were tried and true blacksmiths but he knew enough about personal weapon's maintenance to know feel confident in his ability to maintain them. All he needed was metal, and a quick glance around proved that to be in abundance around here. The tricky part was finding the most durable metals, as these had been exposed to the elements for quite some ti-

"How could you do that?!"

His thoughts were interrupted by Uthug, who stood in front of him with his scowl deepening "You know how much of a pain these music types can be, what in shrakh's name would possess you to do something like that?!"

The Berserker regarded the shorter Uruk with a raised eyebrow, locking eyes for a moment before sighing and gesturing towards Zog "Oi, since we're prepping to leave soon can you do me a favor and find a way onto the roof?"

"Don't change the subject!"

The Shield-Bearer walked over with a quizzical look "What for exactly?"

"I need you to pull some metal from that thingie what was holding the loader up," Tuka folded his arms before glancing up to the ceiling "might need it for some mid-travel maintenance if you know what I mean."

Zog shrugged before walking by "Fine, gives me somethin' ta do while I start thinkin' up songs me and Borg can sing, haha!"

"Yeah and move the girlie away while you're at it, that stink eye she's got is too infuriating to keep in my vicinity for long."

With his free arm, the joyous defender scooped up the angry Faunus as he walked off. Now alone, Tuka turned back to the agitated warrior and sighed "You wanna' know why I'm doing this? Huh? You sure you can keep ya damned ears trained on me long enough to soak up these next words of mine?"

"Just tell me already!"

Tuka leaned down so that they were finally at eye level before tilting his head to the side and grinning "Survival, you worm, it's all about survival."

"How is a deadbeat lyricist supposed to increase our odds of survival!?"

"Ya see? That short-termed idiocy is why I'VE been leading this little excursion of ours." the Berserker walked away to pick up a forgotten can, poking a finger in to check if there was any food left inside "If _you_ feel this heated by the mere presence of a poet, then how do you think the Black Gate Commander himself will feel?"

"He'd probably mangle him on the spot." Uthug muttered as he glanced to the side for a moment "What's ya point?"

"My point being that after killing Borgu, Horkie's likely to go easier on the next worm who incurs his wrath."

Starting to catch his drift Uthug's frown deepened "And who exactly would that be?"

"Zog, obviously." Tuka said as he pulled some meat from the can and nipped at it "With how much he's drooling over that lyricist, he's much more likely to throw himself in the Caragor pit trying to save him. Hopefully the slave gives the big sod something else to vent on before he gets closer to us, but then you decide whether or not to act a fool and get ya self killed."

"And let me guess, then he'll see you bringin' back Ashy boy's body and welcome you back with open arms?" Uthug pointed accusingly at him "You must be thinking of another Hork, the one I know would just add you to the rest of our corpses."

"Pssh, you haven't lived long enough to know this, but Hork can only focus his rage on so many individuals at once without needing to constrain himself. He won't be able to lump a loyal, respectful Soldier like me with the rest of you Chiefless muck. He'll be more than willing to forgive a determined trooper like me after getting his anger out on you lot."

"You're chiefless too! You abandoned them just like the rest of us!" the Musket-Wielder's snarl was spreading to critical levels as his voice rose.

"Yes, but the difference is that unlike the rest of you I can at least ACT like an effective warrior, you lot are like a bunch of lazy worms trying to look useful so your master don't play Cliff-Toss with ya!"

"And what if I tell the others about this stupid plan of yours to use them as hate sponges?" Uthug threatened as a sneer spread across his face. Tuka gave him an incredulous look before gesturing to him and replying blandly.

"You've solidified yourself as a horrible source of information this entire trip, the fact you'd even attempt something like that only reaffirms how capable I am in comparison."  
the Berserker raised the can and shook it a bit to check the meat inside "Now quit your whining and finish up your meal, I don't wanna hear you complain about it when we get moving."

He went to poke inside for more of the filling old meat when the can was smacked out of his hand and sent flying far by an enraged Uthug.

The can clanked on some debris and rolled across the substation's decimated floor until finally coming to a stop next to a covered lump. Staring at it from a nearby wall was the unhappy Faunus who'd been dumped there by Zog before the Shield-Bearer left to find a way to the roof. She tried tuning out the bickering of the Uruks as best she could. She also made a point to shift as far away from the lump as possible, she'd known what had been inside it for a while but sill disliked the idea of resting near a corpse, even though it was technically the body of an enemy to her people.

And the smell, ugh.

But her eyes did go to the can, which even from her position she could see had some of its meaty contents dripping out. She'd never ask for food from her captors, didn't want to give them the satisfaction of making her plead, but her stomach had been empty for far longer than she knew was healthy. Now that it was out of their sight, they wouldn't be able to comment on her rolling to her side and crawling over to the can, trying to ignore the smell of the lump. Once she was close enough, she reached with her bound arms-

-only for a green arm to shoot from the lump and snatch up the can first.

Her scream was enough to make Tuka and Uthug halt their argument and turn towards it, the Berserker glared back at his smaller cohort "This conversation is over." he growled before turning away. Uthug clenched his fists before groaning and following behind.

Seconds later they found their captive shivering against the wall with a distraught look etched into her face. But more importantly-

"Where is it?!"

Following Tuka's gaze, Uthug flinched when he saw that the covered corpse of Ashgarn was missing "Fattie's gone? Somethin' crawl in and snatch him or something?"

The Berserker didn't answer, instead he turned his furious glare on the White Fang Grunt before stomping over "You saw what happened, where is it?!"

The Faunus seemed to still be recovering from what she'd seen, shaking her head a bit before glancing up at them "I-...he just-gah!"

Tuka's hand dug into her throat as he lifted her up "Spit it out you cur! That fat bastard was my ticket up! Where's the body?!"

"Is Zog gonna be okay with you tossin' his slave around?" Uthug folded his arms as he looked on critically

"Don't care! Corpse, now!" he hissed while drawing one of his axes "At this point, you either start talking or I start Hacking you apart as painfully as physically possible you-"

Another crash from elsewhere made the Berserker stop, head snapping back towards the sound of the noise. With a 'tch' of annoyance, the berserker threw the Faunus to the ground harshly before storming in the direction of the sound.

Uthug glanced between Tuka and the girl, who tried rolling onto her good side while still having this incessantly disturbed look on her face, before shrugging and following behind.

He found the Berserker standing beside a fallen Borgu, both Uruks looking up at the crashed loader "Oi, what exactly are you two globs doin'?" the warrior asked as he approached "Lyin' around paralyzed like a bunch of lazy weakl-"

He halted once his eyes reached the top of the loader, where Ashgarn sat digging into a sack of foodstuffs.

A scream tore its way out of Uthug's throat as he flinched back, tripping over a piece of debris.

The Gorger looked filthy and battered, not much worst than the rest of them honestly. Being wrapped up for so long did not do him any favors, and then there was his eye. Well, perhaps the proper phrasing would be his _lack_ of an eye. His left eye was completely gone, a sickly looking hole being the only thing left from the White Huntress's lethal blow. It looked as bad as an untreated wound of that caliber could get, as the skin around it seemed to have rotted in a few places. The meat inside it seemed grotesque and if one looked hard enough, they could see the movement of insects moving about inside the socket.

And yet he simply continued digging in as if he hadn't been apparently slain in the first place, looking at them all with his one good eye as he yanked another can from the bag and looked it over before stuffing the entire thing into his mouth and crushing it with his jaws before swallowing it, metal meat and all.

"Ah, so you made it as well." he commented upon spotting Uthug, rolling his one good eye before slurping some of the meat from his fingers "I figured since the big boy over here made it then maybe some other worms survived that little incursion of ours."

"A-Ashgarn." Tuka forced a smile to his face "We thought you was dead...how... _pleasant_ it is to see you up and about again!"

"Pfft, you don't just live with the same blood as my brother's and expect to die from a measly head gouging." the All-Eater shook his head before jumping down, standing straight before devouring another can "I woke up a few times en route, but the fool carryin' me kept dropping me on my head, smacking me into walls, tumbling down cliffs! I think I've been knocked unconscious more times in the past week than I have my entire life."

"Sir, I apologize for Zog's idiocy." Tuka uttered, still in the process of getting over his disbelief "If I'd known-"

"Shut up, don't care." the glutton groaned before walking to thee side of the loader "Listening to explanations from underlings is much too draining, where the shrakh are we?"

"Uhhhh..." Uthug tried forming an answer

"Last I checked that white cur downed me in a village surrounded by woodlands." Ashgarn glanced back at them "Why is it the next time I wake up we's in the middle of a damned desert?"

He turned back to face them with a scowl.

Tuka had gotten over his shock, Uruks survived usually lethal wounds all the time, he should've damaged him more when he was unconscious. Now he was more concerned about his plan, Ashgarn's unfathomable stomach would starve them all in a week. Beyond that, bringing him back to the Tower alive was monumentally more difficult than bringing him as a corpse, and the Berserker suspected the Glutton wouldn't be as easy as Zog to string along.

"Oh," their gazes were drawn to Borgu, who let a smile cross his face as he scrambled to his feet "the story of a brother denying death's sweet kiss to return to his own family, the lyrics just write themselves!"

Ashgarn narrowed his eye before turning to Tuka "The hell does that mean?"

Tuka blanched as Uthug regained his senses, the shock of his Captain's recovery outweighed by his desire to see the Berserker put in his place "Yeah, big shot. Mind tellin' the boss what that means exactly?"

Even from the corner of his eye, the larger Uruk could communicate his rage quite effectively.

Damn you Uthug, he thought you had a place in my plan and seek to squander that gift. I promise you that if I can live through this I will see to it personally that the Warchief tears you to pieces with his bare hands. Perhaps I'll have me some cooked meat while I watch, seein' a glob get what's coming to him always necessitates a hefty meal.

And so, Tuka stepped forward before coughing into his hand and smiling at the Captain "Well sir, you see-"

"You plan on dragging me back to Hork?" Ashgarn grunted out "The same Hork who made my life a living shrakh heap? Who constantly treated me like muck on his boot?"

"You're not seeing the context here, Ashgarn."

"Do you know what happens the second that massive bastard sees me on his property? First he gathers up those lap dogs of his, shouts in my ear, then beats me to a pulp in front of them all in the name of proving a point."

"We thought you were dead!"

"Why?"

"I saw that tiny wench drive a blade through your head!"

"The same thing happened to Krimp when he fell off a catwalk and landed face first on some poor sap's halberd." the Glutton pointed out "If I do recall it was the sap who ended up with half his body flattened into paste while the dumb grub just continued prancing about like a brain-dead tark."

"Yeah well, he's Krimp." Tuka pointed out "And you're..."

He trailed off while looking Ashgarn up and down, the Captain taking note of this and immediately deepening his frown "Oh, I see. Just because I ain't big like me kin you assume a tiny blade through the skull would be enough to put me down!"

"Its just that in comparison to them, everyone can agree you don't really... measure up?"

Ashgarn just stared at him with enraged disbelief as the other Uruks gaped.

"You..." Ashgarn raised a figer towards the Berserker and growled "I'm going to swallow your still-beating heart whole."

"Wait wait!" Tuka instinctively reached for his axes as the All-Eater began advancing on him when suddenly a loud creaking sound echoed from above. Both Uruks glanced upwards, but Tuka was the one who lunged backwards as a massive chunk of the ceiling careened downward and crashed into Ashgarn.

The berserker shook his head as he leaned up and groaned before catching sight of the glutton's arm sticking out of a pile of metal and roofing, the other three Uruks frozen in different stages of shock.

"Wh-...how-?" Uthug began until a voice called out from above.

"Hey Tuka!" Zog yelled down to them "Did I get the right piece?"

* * *

 **Vacuo-Desert Tower**

Ishga stared at the Helmet in his hands, not with fondness or sadness or any of those other silly weakling feelings, but with contemplation like a true Captain. This helmet belonged to one of his colleagues, who he put up with similarly to any other Uruk in Sauran's army, and that colleague had been led to his demise due to the direct action of their master. He'd undoubtedly be taking Dushrat's place in the chain of command, he'd been there watching as the Black Garrison Commander had practically torn the unfortunate advisor to pieces, the only other option was-

"I know mate," Skak spoke to his weapon as he followed behind the hunter "they'll be making the rest of the armor into some fancy new weapons, blacksmiths are probably going frenzied over the opportunity."

Yes, it benefitted him and his master greatly, in fact there seemed to be little to no downsides to betraying their ally... and yet...

Ishga looked up to his Master, who walked in front of them, leading the way back to his quarters.

Tugog had been struggling with his clairvoyant abilities for some time now, and it had only seemed to worsen after arriving in this realm. It had only been recently that he'd shown signs of recovery in that department, but Ishga had been unprepared. He remembered back when he was just a regular grunt serving his master long ago, watching as he'd position them with such foresight and knowhow that there would hardly be a way for the enemy to counter it.

But what happened up there, the way Tugog seemed to know exactly how to act in order to get out of that risky situation Hork's underlings had put him in, Ishga had been unprepared to experience it firsthand.

"Amazing sir, seems your power's returned to you in full force." he mentioned with a bit of awe seeping into his tone "Showed them Defender folk why you're a Warchief."

"Yes," Dreamer replied with a distant tone in his voice before looking up with a thoughtful expression "I did, didn't I?"

Ishga raised an eyebrow at this, but once again glanced down towards the helmet "But sir, tell me... when you saw what had happened... in ya dreams I mean, what would've happened if Dushrat survived?"

"I know not what it may have been like." Tugog admitted with a sigh as they approached his quarters, the two Defenders giving Ishga dirty glances from the sides as the Warchief invited them in "But I suspect someone up there'd be wearing me around their fist."

"Blood-Axe and I wonder how you got them mind-powers back so quick anyway?" Skak asked as he glanced around the room they entered, immediately eyeing a rickety wooden desk.

"Skak! Do not ask that in such a manner, show your master some respect!"

"His confusion is understandable."

The two blood-based Uruks turned back to Dreamer, who pointed towards a large marking on the wall. It had a bluish liquid smeared in a series of shapes which looked kinda like a-

"A Dreamer Gate?" Ishag asked as he approached the marking, giving it a critical look.

"Ya know, I suppose I'm growing used to that title." Tugog gave a nervous chuckle "But yes, I got a sudden visit from the Storm-Bringer."

Ishga jerked his head back in surprise "The Grand Shaman?"

Tugog nodded before sitting upon the massive tattered mattress and reclining "Came by to personally reaffirm his devotion, and while he was here he told me about Semblances."

Ishga still couldn't get over the idea of the Shaman being in this very building and none of Hork's boys going wild over it. Had he really been here simply to promise loyalty?

"Semblances, them's the things the Tarks here got right?" Skak tilted his head to the side as he placed a finger to his lip in confusion "He talked to you 'bout that?"

"Yes, but the Storm's been gathering more information than I'd expected them to." Dreamer sat up before turning to his underlings "We can use them too."

This snapped Ishga out of his thinking "We what!?"

"Yes, apparently those chief-less worms have been discovering Semblances left and right, mostly in the midst of combat. Even some of the Shaman's own soldiers have discovered their own talents."

"B-But that doesn't make sense!" the Blood-Storm argued before gesturing around him "How could this entire tower's population work here for so long and not discover a semblance!? What about Hork's boys? They've been getting sent out to slaughter dark beasts en masse since we got here! Shouldn't they have at least found something?"

"They have."

Ishga halted "...What?"

"Speaking with the Shaman, I'm almost certain that those of Hork's garrison who survive the hunts have at least discovered some matter of semblance, probably some of our own as well. But you also know how Hork thinks of magic."

Ishga glanced down, those among the hunters who've garnered an grasp of their semblance... they've been hiding them out of fear? Hork had always despised those who make up for their weaknesses with magic and tricks, even before he was a Warchief. If it wasn't for his past serving under a Captain with Tugog, he'd probably have never thrown in with the Dreamer in the first place. But as his duties as Warchief eroded his patience, he'd become more and more harsh on those with ties to the mystic, slowly losing faith in even his old friend.

If Hork's boys showed their semblances to him, would he consider that just magical enough to despise? In all honesty, the answer to that probably didn't matter. What did matter was that the Garrison wasn't willing to take the chance.

Dreamer sat up and turned towards them "Anyway, while here he informed me that despite being a good motivator, raw combat ability wasn't the major factor in awakening a semblance. From what he learned a semblance is like an aura in that it's based heavily on the soul of its user. And after that he offered to help me...find myself."

Ishga blinked slowly as Skak shared a look with his weapon before stepping forward "Mind going into detail a bit?"

"I don't know how else to describe what he did really, we sat down together and he talked and...I may have blacked out a bit or something but next thing I knew I was sleeping and could finally see... _everything..._ in perfect clarity."

"Blood-Axe finds that mighty suspicious, boss."

"As much as I hate to show signs of disloyalty," Ishga stepped forward as the Dreamer began pulling his limbs into a more meditative position "I have to agree with my colleague on that."

"I am just as curious as either of you are, though my clairvoyance feels stronger than its been in years, the potential cost of awakening it is a source of worry." Tugog looked between the duo for a moment before raising a finger "Which is why I would like the both of you to take notes of sort."

Ishga and Skak merely stared, until the smaller of the two shook off his initial confusion and leaned closer with a hand to his ear "I'm sorry?"

"Simply stand there and keep watch over me while I slumber, I am curious to see if whatever the Shaman has done came with...side effects of sort."

"I don't get it either," Skak shook his head at his weapon before glancing to the Warchief "Why's you ain't calling the big guys outside to help with that?"

"Well," Tugog glanced to Ishga before nodding "I suppose I can admit to putting a tad more faith into the last of the Blood-Storms than I do to my chamber guards."

Said Hunter took a second to process that compliment before letting his eyes grow wide, he immediately kneeled "S-Sir! I am honored to have your faith, this quest will be nothing for me!"

Skak quirked an eyebrow "Wait, are you seriously-?"

"Thank you, Blood-Storm, I knew if anything I could trust you to stand by me through such confusing times."

With that Dreamer closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he tried to relax.

Ishga stood once more, watching in Awe as his master began attempting to reach his clairvoyance once again.

But this awe was interrupted by a hand turning him to face Skak, who didn't seem to share his enthusiasm "Blood-Axe and I would like to know why we's wastin a good day of brawlin just to watch the boss sleep."

Ishga snarled "That doesn't matter! He asked us to complete a very simple task, I shall not let your boredom ruin a chance to gain favor!"

"From the sounds of it, it already seems you's his most trusted boy! Come on, can't we just go pick a fight with some o' the guys down in the shanties? We can come right back after Blood-Axe gets his fix, eh? Boss'll never know!"

Ishga pushed past him "You have no idea whether or not we can do all that in that timeframe," he muttered before standing in front of the door, turning back to him, and folding his arms "I won't allow you to risk this mission we have been tasked with-"

"The mission o' being glorified sleep alarms?"

"It is an order! I don't care if he wants us to grab him some meat and a warmer blanket, when the master asks then we serve!"

"Ain't there a damn limit?!"

"Hush, your incessant whining will make it hard for our master to-"

He paused as loud snoring began emanating from Dreamer who, despite still holding his meditative pose, was quite obviously asleep. The two blood-themed Uruks watched for a moment in silence before Skak turned back to his partner and uttered "We ain't doin' this."

"Oh for-"

"Blood-Axe gets antsy when he's bored, and I have to deal with his complainin'. I already spent all that time hearing him moan and groan whilst you was havin' your family moment. Ain't ya got care for ya long time buddy?"

"Do not misinterpret my gracious mentorship as anything resembling companionship, grub. You'd best remember that you're the sole reason I'm the last of the Blood-Storms, correct?"

"I thought I was the sole reason ya got for stayin alive?"

"Impudence!"

"Wasn't it the Shaman who took everything else from ya?"

"He wouldn't have had that chance if not for you!"

The delusional Uruk shook his head before glancing to his side and holding his weapon up to his ear "Heh, I know right?" Skak chuckled before turning back to his peer "Is you under the impression that Mogg would've had any chance to stand up to the Shaman?"

"Of course not fool," the hunter got up in the larger Uruk's face and snarled "but perhaps we wouldn't be in the situation we're-"

"Hold up." Skak said after glancing to the side and letting a confused expression spread across his face

Ishga fumed "Oh how dare you believe you have the right to-!"

"No, I means shut it for a bit and look!" he pointed

The Blood-Storm followed his finger to their master...

...who seemed to be glowing.

"Blood-Axe doesn't like how that looks." Skak mentioned as the two turned to look at their leader, whose body seemed to pulse with a faint reddish glow as he slumbered.

"Shut up!" Ishga grumbled before frowning at his master's state "He's... this is probably part of his power!"

"He glow when he slept back in Mordor?"

"No but- Hm, this is surely the works of this lands magics working their ways."

"So... should we be... helping him?"

"I- I don't rightfully know." the Blood-Storm finally confessed as the two looked on "He said he's already done it this way, so I guess it won't hurt him. I guess we just tell him about it once he-"

"So that's it!" The Dreamer said as his eyes shot open, the two Blood Uruks flinching back at his sudden awakening. The Glow diminished almost immediately, the Warchief having not noticed it as he yawned and began climbing out of his bed.

Ishga shook off his surprise almost immediately, remembering that he'd had a job to do. He immediately kneeled "Master! We did as you instructed, we found that in your sleep you... well you glow."

"Glow?" Tugog glanced towards him as he began getting his bearings "In what manner?

"Red glow!" Skak called out before pointing towards the Warchief's red trousers "Like that but less."

"Interesting," the Dreamer commented before shaking his head "we'll need to look into that later. But for now."

"Oh!" the Blood-Storm stood up, ready for another chance to prove his worth "What did you see this time, master? We are ready to aid you!"

"I see that the Chiefless have been busy, they seem to be holding a tournament soon. And we will be in attendance."

Ishga raised an eyebrow "Sir?"

His master turned back to them both "Have the Surgeon ready a Dreamer Gate, I'm going to need the both of you to get me something."

* * *

 **A Cave Somewhere...**

Yang backed away from a moment to let loose some heavy breaths before raising her fists once more, ahead of her several Uruks in various tattered garbs slowly approached while moving around the fallen bodies of their comrades. Around them all were the walls of the pit, dug deep into the center of the factory floor with several assembly lines nearby, around its edge stood a small crowd of White-painted Uruks including-

"Doing great Lady!" Krosh called out as he watched her charge into the group with renewed fervor "You'll be ready for the Tournament in no time!"

As Yang fell to the ground with one off her opponents struggling in her grasp, she couldn't help but glance up at the Warmonger. A tournament? He couldn't possibly mean the Vytal tournament, right?

He noticed the confused look in her eyes and smirked before crouching down besides the pit "Ah, I see somebody's interested now." he stood before placing his hands on his hips and pacing around the pit "See, those chief-less idiots have been getting hammered lately, and not the good kind that involves grog and a fist-fight. White Fang haven't exactly taken to kindly to having boots in their business, and may have been reacting with some heavily expected retaliation. So one of the stronger gangs have decided some good morality raising brawling is necessary. Uruk by the name of Ishmol the Slave-Driver is holding a tournament, and we're going to remind all of those lesser why the Storm's not one to screw around with by winning."

Yang ducked under a swing and shoved her attacker into another Uruk "Well if you guys are entering, why not join up yourself?" she asked before ramming her fist into the jaw of yet another opponent "You seem so smug about being stronger, why don't one of you Warmonger guys do it?"

Krosh shrugged "If I could I would, but he ain't known as the Slave-Driver for nothing, captives and restrained beasts only." he glanced around at the assembly-line workers around him "Most of the slaves we got here are used for labor, not fighting. And the beasts we got ain't exactly at tip top shape if you catch my drift. We could dump one of them dark beasts in, but the Great Shaman himself doesn't seem particularly keen on trusting our victory on them."

"And since my vile spawn here's got a thing for enslavin' strong women-folk, he was trusted to find a strong slave to enter on our behalf." yet another familiar and unpleasant voice reached her ears.

The Warmonger seemed displeased with this as well, frowning as he spotted none other than Raltug approaching with a smile. In one hand he had a dirty clipboard, in the other a bloody fountain pen, slung over his shoulder was a wet towel which soaked water into the stolen doctor's coat he still wore.

"T'was by pleasant coincidence that Bubol showed up when he did." the Sawbones said as he fixed his lens-less glasses then peaked into the pit to view the fight "Offerin' us a huntress? Seemed too good to be true, your lot are renown for being apt combatants, perfect for this little Tourney. I doubt those Chief-less fools can manage to obtain something of your level, but just in case they do, you'll have to pull your A-game... that's how men-folk here say it, right?"

Yang narrowed her eyes at the two before returning her attention to the last standing Uruk, who brandished two thick wooden boards. He crossed them in front of himself as he stepped forward, adopting a much more defensive stance than his brothers.

"So these guys I've been beating on for the past twenty minutes?" Yang asked as she sized her opponent up

"Chief-less fools who got the stupid idea that they were good enough to challenge the Storm." Krosh explained as he leaned against a nearby support beam "Often we just send them running with their tails tucked between their legs, but often we'll pluck a few from the crop to use as practice dummies."

"Ya know, that sounds exactly like something you guys would do." She said with a smirk and a sigh before charging.

As the duo watched, the Swordsmith looked down at Krosh with a raised eyebrow "I'm rightly surprised you decided to switch to this type o' trainin'." he said as he looked over the clipboard "Usually ya hog your toys all to yourself and have me put 'em back together when ya get too into it."

"This one's for the Shaman, I wouldn't risk jeopardizing his plan and you know it." the Warmonger glanced at the clipboard in his elder's hand "Whatcha got there?"

"Oh, just some records o' mine. Can't keep building if we ain't got shrakh to build with, got's to keep all o' that in check." Ratlug said before smirking down at him and flipping a page "Also got the results back from MY entry into the tourney."

Krosh frowned at that and turned on the Swordsmith "You're still going on about that?"

"Of course, though a minister of medicine, I'm an engineer by trade, young'un." He leaned down to wave his clipboard "And by my readings MY entry's gonna be eatin' yours alive durin' that tourney."

"You know I can hear you two, right?"

Once more their brewing quarrel was halted as their attention was drawn to Yang, who tossed the now-unconscious board-wielder away before placing her hands on her hips.

"Ya know this whole thing would go a bit easier if you gave me back my gauntlets." she said in an encouraging matter

"If you can survive in our arena without them then fighting _with_ them in the Tournament should be a cakewalk." the Warmonger said ass he glanced back to something approaching and gave a smirk "Now keep your head up, next round ain't gon' be as easy as the last."

The brawler rolled her eyes and groaned, as fun as beating down a bunch of goons was, the fact that she was doing it on Krosh's behalf soured the experience greatly. Despite this she could appreciate the momentary distraction, as it gave her time to puzzle out more pieces of her location. It had to be a factory somewhere, built into a mountain somewhere if the stone walls making up her cell were any indication.

Some muffled mumbling could be heard approaching the pit, breaking Yang's concentration for a moment as her next opponent appeared at the edge. And almost immediately the Blonde's eyes spread wide as a sickened feeling struck her right in the gut.

"The hell is that thing?!" she couldn't help but ask as the monstrosity before her seemed to take offence at the title, if the insulted look in its oddly bright green eyes said anything. Standing between Krosh and Ratlug was a skinny humanoid with various blotches of mismatched skin, in some places looking soft and smooth and in others looking rough and leathery. Where its arms should've been were nothing but several slender fingers growing from its shoulders, which seemed functional if the occasional twitches of the appendages were any indication.

It wore nothing more than a lengthy tattered skirt which seemed even filthier than the cell she'd recently been in, and the same went for the heavy straps which were wrapped tightly around its chest. And on its face it wore what could only be described as an actual bear trap as a mouth guard. It looked as though it had been modified heavily, as it moved in time with the creature's mouth, a mess of regular human and jagged teeth which was mostly obscured by the trap. Raggedy patches ofblack hair jutted from the many straps holding the trap in pace, singed at the very ends in some places and chopped haphazardly in others.

With several more groans and babbles the creature dropped into the pit, landing atop one of the downed Uruks with bared feet before standing to its full height... which wasn't that much actually. Though it was short and even worryingly thin in some places, the sheer giddiness in its illegible mumblings betrayed its enthusiasm.

"This is Mincemeat, I guess you could call her my longest lasting slave. And trust me when I say she went through some definite shit to get that title." Krosh commented from above as Yang tentatively raised her fists in front of her "Usually I just have her eat any toys that I lose interest in, but she's still deadlier than the fools you spent the last half hour wailing on. So I figured if you could stand up to the dog here then your victory in the tourney is practically assured."

Mincemeat nodded vigorously at that, so she could at least understand them it seemed.

"Uh, is that thing on her head-"

"Yep." the Warmonger answered as more Storm members wandered over to watch "Used to be just a regular mouthpiece we put spikes on, but thankfully this guy's a better engineer than a doctor."

He elbowed Ratlug, who glared back at him before distracting himself with his notes.

"Hm," Yang didn't like looking at this thing, Mincemeat's visage was more unsettling than a lot of Grimm she'd fought before "and I'm just gonna take a shot here and say that a lack of arms isn't going to be too much of a problem for her, eh?"

To her surprise, the reply was uttered from the subject of discussion herself "Nuh-uh." Mincemeat managed to muble through the device on her head before ducking low and darting forward.

Momentarily shocked by the Slave's comprehensive words, it took Yang a moment to steel her stance as her opponent launched herself into the air. Following her movements, Yang gulped audibly as Mincemeat suddenly dive-bombed towards her metallic jaws open.

The brawler dodged to the side as Mincemeat slammed into the ground face first, but was caught off guard when she suddenly swung her leg out towards her.

Blocking the stray kick with her arms, Yang tried capitalizing on her opponent's downed position before she could throw anymore surprises. This proved futile as the Slave's spare leg swung to the side with enough force to dislodge her metallic headgear from the ground and send her rolling away out of the young huntress in training's reach. She didn't stay down for long, as she slipped her legs underneath her armless torso and pushed herself off the ground into a run with practiced ease.

Yang slid to the side as Mincemeat chomped at her, sending her fist into the side of the slave's headgear with enough force to make her stumble. Yang refused to give her enough time for a recovery, charging knuckles readied towards the off-balance biter. A second punch connecting with her jaw nearly sent her off her feet, one leg failing to hold her up as Yang dug in.

But just as she got in range to continue her barrage, one of Mincemeats legs shot forward and locked around her own. Momentum of attack lost, Yang realized what was happening too late as the other leg latched onto her as well.

Legs restricted, the Brawler immediately tried pulling an arm back as Mincemeat swung her entire head into the blonde's like a battering ram. The force coupled with her barred legs led to her falling onto her back as Mincemeat reared back jaw open. Yang had taken strong hits before, even to the face, that allowed her recover far faster than the Slave had anticipated. Yang caught her by the throat as she swung towards her, immediately squeezing down to cut off as much air as possible while the metal jaws jerked open and snapped shut right before her eyes over and over.

"Hey Lady!"

Out of the corner of Yang's eye, she spotted Krosh calling to her "Just so you know, choking her doesn't work as much as it used to Lady so don't go banking on it."

Her eyes went back to Mincemeat, who kept struggling to sink her jaws into her, and she cursed as she considered the truth behind those words.

"Munchie! Munchie!" the Slave choked out as she pushed forward still.

Well... great...

Yang tried finding a better grip on the biter's torso in order to better shove her off, yet once again the armless girl's stubbornness presented itself once more.

"Hey! Somebody get me a drink and some Hybrid-meat." Krosh gestured to one of the other spectating Uruks before being distracted by the approaching sound off chains "Huh, I didn't call for anymore slaves."

Approaching was none other than Ogthrak with a look of mild curiosity, also for some reason baring large industrial chains wrapped tightly around both of his forearms "Well well, what's goin on round here? Some worm showed up while I was training some runts and said 'Oi boys, Krosh got 'is little champion wailin' on some Chiefless scum. Who wants to see them break 'er face?!' and now I find my class huddled around your toys gawking like a bunch of shrakhs."

"I'm surprised they weren't busy gawking at those fancy weights you have there," the shorter Warmonger pointed to one of the thick chains "the hell do you have those for?"

Ogthrak raised an eyebrow before shrugging "What, you never see training weights before?"

"Usually training weights are heavy slabs strapped to the limbs you work out with, I'm positive we got some of those around."

The bulkier Uruk waved it off as he walked past "Well I like 'em, they make good marks in grunts when I beat 'em, so deal with it." he urged before glancing into the pit "So tell me what's so much more important than my classes, eh?"

Krosh folded his arms as a snarky smirk crossed his lips "Well I don't exactly think I have enough time to go through the list, so I'll just direct your attention to this brawl we got going on here-Oh oh! Look at this!"

He pointed in just as Yang finally managed to dislodge Mincemeat from her, shoving her back before cramming as much of her fist into her stomach as possible and forcing air and saliva out of the Slave's mouth.

"Ain't you worried that one o' your girls gonna get some permanent damage? You've had Mince since before ya joined up with us."

"Yeah well if some unarmed blonde is enough to beat her then obviously she hasn't learned enough from our time together." Krosh waved it off as he watched the two charge towards each other once more "Besides, she's got plenty of permanent damage already, who'd possibly be worried for her wellbe-"

"Mincey!"

The voice drew the attention of the entire crowd as a figure burst through a door on an upper catwalk before frantically look around "I heard, Mincey! I ain't gonna let her hurt you!"

The voice even affected the Slave as well, her eyes going wide within her headpiece as her head turned towards it. Yang could relate, that voice was just familiar enough to tug at her attention, however her opponent's momentary distraction proved too much of an opportunity to pass up. And so before she could think twice, she tackled the metal-mouthed muncher to the ground.

"Ha!" she exclaimed as she held down the writhing Slave's legs with her own and used her arms to keep her deadly headgear locked in place "Try wiggling outta this one!"

"No!" that voice called once more "Don't ruin that delicious mouth of hers!"

"Hey, the hell are you-" She heard Krosh yell in shock "Wha-! Grab him!"

"Oh come on! Please, she's too precious!"

Wait... It was only now that her opponent was marginally subdued that she truly thought about that disgusting, annoying voice and how familiar it was.

Turning her head while maintaining her hold on Mincemeat, Yang glanced to the edge of the pit before letting the anger spill into her expression.

She could see Krosh angrily glaring at something writhing in another Uruk's chain-wrapped arms. The thing was actually a bony Uruk who wasn't wearing the storm's blue and white colors, good thing because she couldn't imagine the body paint working with the massive sores growing on his bod-

"Bubol!?"

The diseased Archer paused in his struggling to glance down at her, blinking before a sick grin spread across that grotesque face of his "Oh, its the yellow one!"

"Why can't any of you just say my name?"

"Well cram me in a Caragor gut!" he exclaimed before giggling to himself "When I heard that Kroshie-boy had my dear, sweet Mincey goin against one of his other slaves, I had no idea it would bee you!"

He laughed until a painted fist sank into his grotesque face and sent his aura flaring as it snapped to the side from the force "Damn it Bubol!" Krosh shouted as he tightened his fist "You can't just come barging in here screaming bloody murder every time I have MY slave go up against someone!"

"But I can't let anything happen to that-" he paused to groan lustfully, causing Ogthrak to immediately lean his head away from him "-that damn near delicious mouth of hers!"

He giggled at his own thoughts as Krosh placed a hand to his forehead and sighed.

Yang had sorely underestimated how annoying seeing that pervert again would be, her grip on the armless woman beneath her tightening without her even realizing it. Mincemeat didn't seemed to mind, in fact the cannibal seemed more inclined to direct her own snarling and growling towards the Archer as well.

"You distracted her! The entire battle is incon-fucking-clusive because of you!"

"I am more than willing to take blame for this," Bubol said solemnly before that expression was once again drowned away buy another vomit-inducing smile and he glanced into the pit once more "Ya hear that Mincey!? I may have ruined ya little fight! I sure do hope you don't get mad and... and..! Sink those succulent teeth of yours into me!"

"For Sauron's sakes, get him out of here!"

* * *

 **Vale-Beacon Academy**

"And this one is of Mr. Ironwood and you showing me how ta use crayons and whatnot, and here's one of me and muh Beacon Friends."

"Interesting."

Krimp looked up from the very haphazard crayon drawings he had scattered around him and smiled at Ozpin, who looked over the various images with a look of interest. Off to the side stood a critical General along with the remaining three members of Team RWBY.

"How about you show us the one you made of that friend of yours who was recently on TV?"

Krimp lifted an eyebrow as he looked down at the pictures for a moment, then dug through them to raise a single haphazard crayon drawing of a thin Uruk with dark armor and spears strapped to his back "Ya mean Gundzie?"

Ozpin looked back at Blake, who tried to take as many of the childish depictions details into account "I can't say for certain, I only saw it for a split second after dislodging it from the Hijacker." she said before glancing to her Headmaster "It's definitely similar to it."

Ozpin gave a small hum at that "Krimp," he gathered the Uruk's attention "could you tell us about this friend of yours? He seems to have stirred up a bit of trouble around here recently."

"Aw, he's just angry I'm sure!" Krimp gathered his pictures and rose to his full height "He's been angry ever since getting into a bit o' trouble with his Warchief, got himself and his pals exiled. He's been trying to get back in his good graces forever now."

"Tell me," General Ironwood spoke up "does he have a way to take control of others?"

"Hn?" Krimp smiled at that "You mean the dark aura thingie? That's his semblie talent! Don't know how it works, been hanging round here too long to check up on him for a while."

"What do you know about it?"

"Just that its kinda like mergin' with someone's Aura stuff, don't know much else other than that."

The General sighed before turning away and utter a sarcastic "Perfect."

Krimp put a finger to his lip as he looked up in thought "Though I don't know why he'd do somethin' like this, he was always a tad on the aggressive side but usually it'd take some proddin' to get him to act out in the open like this."

"Hm," the Atlesian folded his arms "so far you're people have proven exceptionally susceptive to prodding."

"Yeah, Uruk rage is quite the thing, ain't it fellas?"

"In any case Ms. Belladonna," Ozpin spoke after sharing a glance with his fellow headmaster "the actions of both you and Team SSSN should be adequately rewarded."

"We...we only-"

"Were at the right place at the right time?" Ozpin quirked an eyebrow "Perhaps, but nevertheless good deeds simply must be rewarded in order to propagate their repetition, no?"

Blake gave a small smile at that, glancing to the side when Ruby playfully nudged her "Yes, Thank you sir."

"After these events we simply have to reinforce our previous recommendation." The General's expression softened "Go out and have fun, enjoy this downtime. Hopefully without another one of these things showing up."

"Yeah, I'm feeling almost one-hundred percent now!" Ruby said before patting her abdomen "And now that my stomach's no longer achy, I think it deserves some filling, how about it girls?"

"It has been a while since we've just gone out to eat." Blake commented before the two of them glanced to Weiss

The Heiress raised an eyebrow "What? Were you expecting me to say something to discourage an outing with my teammates?"

"Well it's just that every time we wanted to go out before you'd always bring up studying so..."

"We are recovering from a personal tragedy! If anything we deserve this." Weiss insisted, taking precaution not to mention how most of those previous scenarios were her response to Yang's attempts to include the rest of their team in her partying.

"Well then I believe you girls will enjoy this," Ozpin smiled before pulling several strips of paper from his desk "I hear many students praising this shop for it's meals and figured you'd all enjoy the downtime."

Stepping forward to accept the offered papers, the girls found themselves in possession of large coupons for a noodle-shop in Vale, one that they and most of their friends had visited at some point or other.

"Ah, you guys get's to go having ya'self a nice meal and all?" Krimp spoke up before pouting "I ain't have a good meal like that in so long, even after we's done come here."

"Oh?" Ozpin glanced to the side "Perhaps I'll get you a bowl if I find myself with the spare time."

As the Uruk clapped his hands together in a pleased manner, the Headmaster turned back to the girls "Please, enjoy yourselves for the time being."

Giving their thanks, the teammates made their way to the elevator as Ozpin leaned back in his chair and glanced to the ceiling with a thoughtful expression.

"They shouldn't have to be dealing with this." Ironwood stated as he turned to his old friend

"I know James, nobody should. Especially at this fragile time in-"

"Oh! Excuse us Ms. Goodwitch."

Weiss's voice drew attention to the elevator, where a stressed looking Glynda nodded to the girls before striding past them to the two Headmasters with a large file tucked under her arm. Ruby gave a worried look at them before joining her teammates in the elevator.

"Glynda, I feel like its been forever since I last saw you." Ironwood commented

"For good reason, I've been busy trying to keep track of these things and their movements." she said before turning to Ozpin and dropping a file on his desk "Here are all known abandoned villages and structures between here and the Vacuo border."

Ozpin opened the file to find page after page of possible hiding locations for their opponents to put to use. His expression steeled with every one he glanced through.

"So many..." Ironwood said with a hint of worry working its way into his tone.

"And that doesn't even count the camps and outposts the White Fang have littered about." She said before folding her arms "We'll never be able to comb through all of them in a timely manner, by the time we track down one group another could've moved three consecutive times."

"At this rate we'll never be able to track down the captives." Ozpin conceded with a sigh "The manpower necessary would have to rival the Uruk-Hai in numbers."

"Now do you see that we need to start calling in for more AK units?" Ironwood asked "I'd like to keep this under wraps as well, Oz. But with no other way to effectively track down those captives then we'll need to-"

"Why not just check for 'em at the Slave Tournie?"

The three paused and turned to Krimp, who was in the middle of sucking on a crayon "I betcha most of them'll be there!"

"Slave...Tournament?" Glynda began

"Yeah, me good buddy Ishmol's got a big arena built outta an old lookin factory. Had it for fights and the usual, but now he's gone and demanded all the chief-less fellows to come along and bring their slaves to fight in it!"

"And you didn't happen to bring this up before why?!" Ironwood glared at him "And don't say because-"

"But nobody asked buddy."

"That's it!"

"James, please. Let's take what we can get." Ozpin said before folding his hands together and turning on the smiling giant "Now why don't you tell us a bit more about this Tournament?"

* * *

 **A Cave Somewhere...**

The door closed with an all encompassing thud behind her, and Yang glanced back as the locks were set in place.

"Hey!" she called out, hearing the locking pause

"Lady," Krosh's voice came from the other side "I swear you better have something important to ask."

"Why are you guys putting up with Bubol of all people?" she asked, turning to face the door with her arms folded " He's not one of you, I mean like he doesn't have your colors or any of that. You Warmongers don't exactly seem like the guys who'd put up with that kinda stuff from an outsider."

"Hey, the Shaman thinks he's entertaining so he stays alive... for now." Yang heard him mutter that last part "Besides, annoying or not he's still deadly enough for me to respect him to a certain degree... unlike some people."

Yang narrowed her eyes at that before stepping closer to the door "Oh yeah? Well then what about that armless chick?"

"What about her?"

"You keep her around despite an obvious weakness, aren't you guys all about eliminating weakness or whatever?"

"That's different," he said quickly "she's MINE. I get to decide when she dies. Nobody else, me!"

Yang heard him finish locking up, "Is she..?" She trailed off as she heard his footsteps going away, then sighed before turning. She was about to go find somewhere to nap until her next brawl, but paused when she heard familiar laughter down the hall. Pressing her ear against the door, yeah...yeah there was no denying it.

"Good lord, does he ever stay quiet?" she heard an Uruk utter over the giggles

"Only when he's trying to get that look about him." another replied

"Oh boys, I assure you I can be as quiet as ya need me ta be!" came the unmistakably disgusting voice of Bubol "You two could do whatever ya want to little ol me and the others won't ever need to know!"

"J-just get him in there already, there's a corner somewhere that requires my vomit ASAP."

"How hurtful!" Bubol cooed as his voice was somewhat muffled by a closing door "Why not lock another one of ya slaves in here to keep me company, eh?"

"You's lucky the Shaman spared one, we can't just have you infecting all of our labor like that." one of the Guards groaned "Come on, let's get outta here before he starts groaning again."

Two pairs of footsteps moved past her cell, but Yang was more focused on the sounds coming from right next door to her. There was no way, right?

Against her better judgement, she slid to the side of the door and called out "Hey! Uh... Bubol? Is that you?"

There was a second of something clattering on the ground before the vile voice spoke up again "Yellow! It is you! Looks like we're neighbors! Goody goody!"

"Did-were you in that cell this whole time?"

"Nah, they moved me after a slave somehow ended up lodged in my ol' cell's wall. I told them it wasn't me but..."

Yang sighed, just when she was sure her day would get quiet, at least she had a source of information so close. Though the legitimacy of what he says would always be up for debate "Why are you even in a cell? Aren't you buddy buddy with these guys?"

"That's exactly why I'm here sweetness! What better place to wait for the Tournie than in a Storm Cell? These things are so deluxe! Why, ever since coming here I've had me belly consistently full with the finest!"

Yang's own stomach grumbled at that, the schlop they called food here could only go so far. It was like gruel had committed suicide and she'd been forced to feast upon its melted remains. That was what he considered deluxe?

"Yeah, listen I-"

"Oh, hold on one sec though missy!" Bubol said, the faint sound of footsteps disappeared for a moment before returning.

"Okay, got me beverage with me, let's have us a talk!" the grotesque Uruk cheered followed by a snapping sound that made Yang's eyes widen. That sound was unmistakable, she'd heard it so many hundreds of times before.

Previous questions forgotten, she pressed against the door "Bubol...is... that a can of soda?"

"So-da? That's whatya call this stuff? Ha! I like it!" the Lustful Archer chittered before pausing to take a loud sip

"Y-You have soda in your cell?" Damn it, just how lackluster was her cell in comparison to his?

"Oh yeah, nice little box thingie has them. I hear it keeps 'em nice and chilled."

A mini-fridge... he had a goddamn mini-fridge in there.

"Bubol... is... where do you sleep?"

"Oh! They hauled me bed in from the ol' cell, pretty comfy place. Probably feel comfier with a slave waitin' for me under those sheets."

His fantasies aside, the idea of there being a comfy bed and a mini-fridge right next door to her reminded Yang of just how much Krosh seemed to go out of his way to make her despise him.

Biting back the curses, Yang tried to get back on track before she lost focus "Hey, w-what happened... after you beat me?"

"Oh? curious aren't we, love." Bubol chittered before pausing to drink "Well, guess I should say that ya sis tried helping ya valiantly after she saw you in that mess a trouble she did."

Yeah, that sounds like something Ruby would do. Hell, if she had gone down instead of her then Yang would probably tear through anything and everything to keep her out of his hands. But that still meant...

"I take it you stopped her then?"

"Yep! Nearly killed each other tryin' to reach ya!" He paused to laugh "Oh she was a flighty one, took some time to beat her down nice and good-like."

Gritting her teeth, Yang tried not to think of this disgusting pervert hurting her sister, but Bubol seemed keen on continuing

"Like, she was hoppin' all over tryin' to stick me with that oversized scythe of hers. But I crushed her betwixt two thick trees, staying as nubile as I've ever been oh yes. She's nice and alive though, should've seen the way she looked up at me all sad and like, watching her own blood get carted off to and unknown fate!"

"You asshole!" she couldn't hold it back "Soon as I find a way outta here I'm gonna introduce my fist to your jaw, and trust me when I say that their gonna have an intimate relationship."

"Ooooh, I like intimate, doll." Bubol said with a lusty sigh

"Bet you won't like when I beat the teeth out of you!"

"Oh? What else are you gonna do to me?" he asked through increasingly heavy breaths

"I'll-!" Yang paused in her spiel "Just forget it."

"What? No no, sweetness I was soo close! Keep threatening me, damn it!"

"Why would you even... Oh... Oh god... Are you-?!"

"Yes! Yes I am, now talk about how much ya wanna crush me under ya boot!"

"You're sick!"

"And you're deliciously violent, we can help each other out, darling!"

Yang groaned before standing and walking away from the door, having heard more than enough to keep her disgusted for the rest of the day. As Bubol called for her, she moved as far away from the door and slid down to the foot a wall. Now safe from his perverted demands, she curled up and began trying to get some sleep. It was hard, as images of Ruby lying defenseless at the feet of that bastard kept popping into her head. After some time, she managed to replace those images with ones of her beating the ever-loving hell out of both him and Krosh. It was a pleasant thought, of both of them getting some good old fashioned physical come-uppance. Though even that was dulled down once she imagined Bubol demanding she hurt him more.

Damn it! How was she supposed to feel good about beating him up if he enjoyed receiving pain just as much as giving it? How does one win!?

At just that moment the locks on her door began opening, and her head jerked up as two figures stood in her doorway. She watched as one of them patted the other on the back before exiting the door and closing it behind him leaving the other alone with her. She clenched her fists, ready to get out some aggression on someone after having her day thoroughly ruined by her neighbor, but instead she let her eyes go wide in shock once she realize who exactly was standing in front ofher.

It was Mulgrim... the camera guy.

Wasn't he supposed to be dead?

Yang opened and closed her mouth like a fish as she watched the Uruk walk over, noting the changes in appearance. His body paint seemed smudged in various places, the once intricate blue and white designs mixing in uglier ways, and his eyes looked bloodshot. He stumbled a bit as he walked, but finally came to a stop before sitting down in front of her to resume watching her as if she hadn't watched him get accidentally gunned down. Once he had taken his seat, the most notable change became all the more noticeable.

Around his neck was a wet towel which seemed soaked with both water and his black blood.

* * *

 **The Desert Tower**

"Spear Check!" Ishga called out to a band of hunters sporting the same red tattoos and body paint as him. At his words, many recounted the number of spears in their sacks, one tested his by running his tongue over the sharp tips, cackling dumbly when one managed to cut into the thick flesh of his oral appendage.

They were gathered on a large balcony protruding from the side of the tower, much of it had been crumbling when they'd arrived, but over time hard-working slaves had managed to reinforce and replace many of its parts. Now sitting around it were two distinct groups of Uruks, ones garbed in the same red and white as Ishga, and-

"Blood-Axe says this ain't sharp enough, runt." Skak was looking over a large dagger wielded by a shorter Uruk who had the same red markings as him "You'd do best to get ya self another weapon."

What Skak called his Blood-Brothers, a bunch of common warriors dressed in garb similar to his. They were much more numerous and Brawny than Ishga's Blood-Hunters, but they lacked the skill or diligence his own followers had.

The Hunter sighed, having to once more remind himself that this was all that was left of the once insurmountable Blood-Storm. These two Captains and their underlings, the few who hadn't gone crawling to the feet of that Shaman.

Ishga remembered a time when only the name of them would send worms scuttling back to their hidey holes, when walking into a room meant instant fear and respect from every glob who saw them. Even the Garrison knew to see them as equals, respected their territories and their captains. Back when both Hork and Tugog were still like the battle-brothers they'd been on the field. They'd been there to aid in Dreamer's overthrowing of the last Warchief after Skog the Corruptor had given them a perfect avenue of attack. They were there to enforce his first rules onto the Army he'd taken, and under the strict command of their leader, Mogg the Elder, they would've been unstoppable for years to come.

But then...

Ishga's eyes flitted to Skak, who was taking the time to taunt the runt along with some of his underlings, the warriors taking turns having a laugh at the smaller Uruk's expense.

Mogg had been the father Ishga and his brother needed to become strong despite their small statures, it kept them from becoming useless like that runt. As a less than muscular individual himself, the Elder trained every Uruk under his command in using tools to make up for what they might lack. The brothers would of course be included among his ranks, and if they died then Mogg would consider them failures. Maku had idolized the Blood-Storm's glorious leader far more than his peers, Ishga always figured that's why he took it so hard when Skak entered the scene.

He'd joined the storm for feats of physical power, and had been expected to rise through the ranks despite his occasional jokes. Skak the Funny One he'd been called until he found that damn axe. Nobody ever really figured out how he got ahold of the weapon, but once he did the occasional jokes became a twenty-four seven act between him and the Blood-Axe. Nobody could take him seriously, and having him amongst them was starting to make Uruks in Hork's forces talk.

Mogg decided to deal with it personally, and would put the embarrassment down to prove that the Blood-Storm did not abide humiliating acts such as this.

Ishga remembered that day as if it were yesterday, a crowd of Uruks from both the Blood-Storm and other Warchiefs' armies, a bridge upon which Skak had stood arguing with that ridiculous weapon of his. Mogg looking back to his two personal protégés and Maku calling for the Axe-Wielder's blood as the Elder strode forth to engage him in battle.

It had been going perfectly at first, Mogg dodging and weaving between Skak's powerful swings and avoiding his grapples. The Elder wore him down over time through cleverly placed stabs of his spear, and eventually Skak had fallen to one knee before the superior Uruk. He was barely able to hold his axe, blood mixing with his red markings, he should've been dead right then and there.

And yet the battle ended with Mogg dying in Ishga's arms, his Elder's final words cementing a goal in his head.

After that, watching the Blood-Storm's leader be slain by such a laughing-stock, they had all been labeled as a mockery of what true warriors should be. It was then that Hork's Garrison began looking down upon Dreamer's forces, and then that Shaman showed up and all but ripped whatever power they had left out from under them. The Blood-Storm had become stripped of its old blooded ways and simply became the Storm, with many of its members running to swear allegiance to the Grand Shaman, including-

"Oi!"

Ishga's irritated remembrance was interrupted by his approaching sibling, Maku cast a curious glance around them both before coming to a stop "See you and the reds are busy, what for?"

"We're going to go try out a Dreamer Gate," Ishga responded before returning his attention to his own spears "the Master wants us to go grab something for him."

"Oh? Going on a big mission eh?" Maku chuckled for a bit before glancing at Skak "Mayhaps that fool of yours makes a good shield, eh?"

Ishga didn't respond, causing his brother to look at him for a moment before shrugging "He will be the death of you one day."

"One of us has to honor Father's last words." Ishga retorted

"Ha! Still worrying over that dead incompetent, eh?" Maku gave another amused shrug before turning and walking off "Only thing you should honor about the old bastard is the lesson his death taught us."

His brother may have forgotten what a great and powerful Uruk the Elder was, but Ishga was not one to forget the old glory. Going so far as to take Blood-Storm as his title in order to have a living, breathing representation of what they once were. Mogg's last words would not be forgotten as long as he'd live, the old Uruk had demanded he do his best to aid Skak...

Aid him in becoming one worthy of the accomplishment of slaying the Leader of the Blood-Storm.

* * *

 **The City of Vale**

As the bus doors closed behind them, the three girls glanced to one another before beginning the short walk to their destination. Weiss glanced at Blake for a moment, the Heiress looking between her and the retreating form of the bus for a moment "Are you sure you're-?"

"I'm fine, Weiss." Blake assured "It was just a bus and that whole deal with Gundza wasn't even in the top five most traumatic things I've witnessed."

"Aw, Weiss is just worried." Ruby waved it off before pausing and looking back at the Faunus "You guys were going so fast that the news crews had trouble keeping up, but from what we _did_ see, things got really tense."

"It was," Blake admitted before lifting her head to look at their surroundings "can't believe we were speeding along these streets just yesterday... Everything looks so normal."

"Yes well, officials were lucky enough that the Cretin you faced had chosen that host in particular." Weiss commented as she followed the Dark-haired girl's gaze "What with his less than savory past and the recent destruction of his previous place of employment, they had an easy way to stake everything on him having a mental break."

"But we'll know... We'll know what's really going-"

"Up up!" Ruby interrupted before turning to them and placing her hands on her hips "We're here to relax, cover ups and mental breaks do not equal relaxing."

Her teammates shared a look before the Heiress shrugged "She isn't wrong."

"Exactly," the young leader composed herself "would Yang really want us feeling all sad and sorry for ourselves?"

Blake glanced down before giving a small smile "She'd probably drag us to a fast food place and have us eat till we _can't_ feel bad about anything other than bulging stomachs anymore."

"Mhm!" Ruby nodded before jerking a thumb towards a nearby door "So that's exactly what we're going to do."

Seems they'd arrived at their destination.

A Simple Wok had once been a small food stand, but the scores of satisfied customers had led to it eventually growing into a larger eatery. Due to its convenient location, it had also become a frequent hang out for Beacon's students whenever they came to the City. It was run by one single old man who seemed insistent on running the entire business by himself, shockingly the lack of staff did nothing to harm his sales...what a determined guy! Rumors say the reason his noodles taste so good is because they are laced with an air of sheer determination.

And Ruby planned on calling for the largest bowl of the most stomach-stuffing noodles he could make, but halted immediately once she spotted a group of familiar faces taking up a large table not too far away. In fact, a certain blonde spotted them as soon as they entered.

"Hey guys!" Jaune called to them as the others sitting near followed his gaze to them "You planning on dining too?"

The table he was sitting at was populated by the rest of his team, Pyrrha waving to them politely as Ren looked over the menu beside her. Beside him was Nora, who was adamantly recapping the entire incident with the hijacker to a pair they hadn't been expecting. Across from their hyper companion sat Yatsuhashi and Fox from Team CFVY, everyone had apparently ordered and now waited for their meals. Yatsuhashi was sitting straight in his seat with his eyes closed and an unreadable expression on his face while Fox was busying himself trying to decipher the authenticity of Nora's tale.

"This is... quite the collection of characters." Weiss commented as the three walked over.

"Yeah." Jaune gave a laugh at that

"We had been planning on joining Team SSSN in their celebration of taking down that Hijacker with you." Pyrrha said to Blake before turning to face them all "However, Scarlet apparently demanded they come with him and help pay for his car repairs."

"Wait," Ruby quirked an eye as she and her teammates took their own seats across from their neighboring team "I don't remember Sage being with them during the bus thing."

"He wasn't." Blake commented

"Then why did Scarlet drag him along?"

"Morale support." Ren noted without looking up "Apparently being alone with Sun, Neptune, and his damaged vehicle was simply impossible."

Pyrrha nodded before gesturing to the CFVY boys "We did however run into these two on the way here and decided to invite them."

As if on cue, the pale-eyed boy held up a hand to cease Nora's explanation "Hold up hold up." he gave her a skeptical look "He had a... a wheel blade?"

"Yep." Nora chirped

"What's a wheel blade?"

Nora groaned at his lack of knowledge on the topic "It's a steering wheel with a blade as a rim, duh."

"He didn't have that." Blake pointed out as the Owner approached, they took a moment to give their own requests to the old man. After writing them down, he gave them a nod before rushing off. With him gone she turned back to Nora and continued with "Why would he have a Wheel Blade in the first place?"

"Because of the whole Mad Bus Driver motif he had?" Nora said with surety before leaning closer to Fox and whispering in an ominous manner "He needed it to exact revenge on the school children who drove him to madness in the first place."

"Not the motive." Ren stated before setting his menu down in front of him "He was just some small time thug who went mad after his boss disappeared and his job went under."

"Obviously a cover up!" Nora flicked her hair dramatically before gazing out a nearby window "A cover-up designed to protect the identities of the ones he'd wronged!"

"Real or not, looks like we missed out on a lot." Fox shrugged before leaning back in his seat "Catching mad bus drivers sounds pretty epic."

"I know right!" Nora gasped before pouting at Blake "Why didn't you guys call us in? I mean, from how the camera guys caught it there was already a whole lot of SCREECH and CRASH and Explosions, but there could've been more!"

"Sorry Nora," Blake replied with a side-glance "I had just been giving those hostages a bit more priority at the time, but you're right in a way."

"What do you mean in a way?"

"If we had asked for more help then the Hijacker wouldn't have been able to put up as much of a fight." Blake admitted "But I couldn't stand the idea of waiting for back up while those civilians were still trapped with him."

"And you did indeed help them." Ren stated "No matter your decisions at the time I'd say you ended up on top, with or without our intervention."

"Yeah, you handled it better than most would give you credit for being a first-year and all." Fox pointed out "Glad to see we've got some good replacements for when me and the crew head on out."

"Where exactly are Velvet and Coco, anyway?" it was Weiss who had asked.

"Well the reason we were kinda wandering Vale was because the girls decided to have some kinda Girls Day Out type of deal." Fox stretched as he spoke "They'd been planning to go with that Krimp guy who's been all over campus, but he couldn't make it for some reason. So they just decided to make it gal time or something, so with them gone for the day me and Yats over here were planning on going to an arcade."

This made the heiress quirk eyebrow "Yatsuhashi...at an Arcade?"

She turned to the massive senior student, whose impassive face remained as he slowly opened his eyes and nodded slightly in affirmation.

The idea of the giant playing whack-a-mole briefly popped into Ruby's mind and she fought to restrain her laughter before she accidentally insulted him or something.

"What about you guys?" Fox asked as he looked them over with a curious look "I see we're one blonde short, so where's Yang?"

The question made the rest of the table go silent for a moment. Fox picked up on this almost immediately, Yatsu quirked an eyebrow at the others' reactions as Jaune started rubbing the back of his neck.

"Oh... right." Jaune let out a breath before gesturing to the dark skinned student "Okay, so remember how Yang wasn't with them when you spotted them coming back?"

"Right..." Fox said slowly before turning to the rest of them "I just assumed she was with Oz or something. Nobody said anything."

JNPR's team leader made eye contact with Ruby, who gave him a forgiving smile before glancing at Fox "You see, the trip didn't exactly go as smoothly as we'd hoped it would."

And so she began relaying the story of their encounter, omitting certain details. They'd encountered bandits, defended a village, chased after them to free their hostages, bandit leader took Yang. She felt as if no words she could use could accurately describe the way she felt during the plenty of tense moments they went through when fighting with those Captains. She didn't want to bring down the mood, they were supposed to be getting over all these negative airs for Yang, but the subject matter all but made that impossible. Thankfully, reassuring looks from both Weiss and Blake settled her nerves.

Once she was finished, the others began giving the appropriate condolences.

"Yang is durable," Ren said sympathetically "I'm nearly positive she can handle whatever these criminals throw at her."

"Yeah!" Nora piped up "When we go after her, I'll bet ya a million lien she'll have already pummeled those guys into submission."

The enthusiasm was greatly appreciated.

"But still." Fox glanced up in thought "We've had some close calls before, but I don't wanna think about one of my team getting hauled off like that."

"Would someone even be physically capable of hauling Yatsuhashi off?" Pyrrha questioned

"Hey, you'd be surprised how unexpectedly strong some people are." Fox smirked before looking at his teammate "Not everyone's so noticeably beefy like my pal here. But seriously, I'd be kinda pissed imagining Coco or Velvet in that kinda situation."

Yatsuhashi gave a low hum, then turned to his pale-eyed companion "Are you sure you'd worry about Coco?"

His teammate opened his mouth to speak before pausing and adopting another ponderous expression "Actually now that you mention it she'd probably handle it better than either of us could." he shrugged "Guess we're both worried about that one specific teammate then, eh big guy?"

Weiss and Ruby exchanged looks for a moment before the heiress spoke to the duo "You mean Velvet... right?"

Yatsuhashi got a strange look in his eyes, and Fox scratched the back of his head "Yeah, I don't think she likes anyone else knowing but we all kinda worry about her a lot. Big guy especially."

The large huntsmen in training merely hummed in acknowledgment.

"Why?" Jaune asked

"You of all people should know why Arc." Fox gave a low groan "That whole business with Cardin and his boys."

Yatsuhashi audibly grumbled at that, though his strange expression remained. He folded his arms across his chest before speaking "She never told us... she always said she had a weak constitution, that she had to keep missing certain classes because of sickness."

"The big guy over here respected her personal space, Coco didn't want to scare her off and I guess I just didn't know enough to really put much stake into it." Fox shrugged "I always just assumed she was some extreme introvert. She'd flinch whenever Coco or I tried hanging out with her, would only speak with Yatsu when she needed to, and demanded to sit alone at lunch."

"I do remember her being quite antisocial early on in the year." Weiss commented "Timid seems an apt description, I could only think up a few moments where I'd actually heard her voice back then."

"Yeah," Jaune agreed before turning back to them "So what changed?"

"What do you mean?" Fox looked surprised "After that stunt you pulled with the Ursa, Team CRDL left her alone in order to go on some kinda self-improvement binge or whatever. Less pressured and under some prodding from Coco, she finally came clean to us that they'd been tormenting her for weeks."

"What a horrible partner I am." Yatsuhashi sighed "Not once did I think that she was under such stress, I had assumed she would speak if anything had truly bothered her."

"You were just raised to respect other people's privacy." Ren pointed out before turning his gaze to the Fox "If anything, Its more surprising you and Coco didn't notice anything."

The Dark-Skinned boy just released another groan, "Anyway, Coco basically forced Velvet to be her gal pal after that, wouldn't let her ever be without some kinda positive source nearby. I guess over time Vel started siphoning off some of Coco's confidence, it's been doing her good as far as I can tell."

"But still, we should've done more." Yatsuhashi looked down for a moment "Perhaps challenged those CRDL boys to a duel and given them a real opponent."

He paused for a moment before glancingto Pyrrha "Not to say that your battle with them wasn't gratifying, Miss Nikos."

"Oh!" Pyrrha waved it off "No worries, it was gratifying for me as well. Cardin and his friends have quite the tendency to get on people's bad side."

"Yeah," Jaune leaned back with a questioning look on his face "which makes it even more shocking how fast Krimp managed to befriend them."

"Pssh," Nora gave a small laugh "Krimp could befriend a starving Ursa if he wanted to, the guy's just got the charm."

The mentioning of the disguised Uruk made a lump form in Ruby's throat, and a quick look at her teammates proved that Blake also seemed uncertain of the sudden direction of the conversation. Weiss on the other hand...

"I don't know."

All eyes were on the heiress now, who had placed a hand to her chin in thought as she pondered over the interactions she'd had with the Massive and overly childish Uruk "Its just that... well, he does indeed seem excessively compassionate to everyone he meets. But there's just something off, its like he's... disconnected."

"He's what?" Blake asked

"I can't describe it properly and that's exactly what I don't like about it."

"Maybe its got something to do with his family?" Pyrrha said, which made Jaune's eyes widen a bit

"That's true, he always did say that he lived around a pretty rough crowd." Jaune pointed out "Maybe its just how he coped with being the odd man out?"

"He said that?" Ruby asked, realizing she really didn't have an idea how much the friendly Uruk had disclosed to her friends.

"Yeah, from how he spoke of them they... well they didn't seem like the nicest of people."

Ruby thought for a moment, glancing down at the table before her before saying "Those bandits that took Yang, Krimp sorta came from them."

And now the mass of stares were directed back to her, and she shriveled a little as her eyes darted from dumbfounded expression to dumbfounded expression.

It was Fox who broke the silence "Hold up, hold up." he raised a hand "You're telling me that the dude who helped carry Coco and Velvet's stuff on their last shopping trip rolled with a bunch of crooks like that?"

"Yeah," Ruby said with a nervous laugh "they didn't really see eye to eye."

"The same guy who helped me and Jaune with our training and consistently offered to buy drinks whenever we tired?" Pyrrha questioned

"Mhm."

"The boy who's got a bear hug which rivals mine?!" Nora gasped

"Yes, Nora. Krimp came from a band of bandits."

It was silent for some time after that, until Jaune leaned back his seat "Ya think you know a guy." he glanced towards the members of Team RWBY with a questioning look "But the guys you described. I'm just trying to wrap my head around how _Krimp_ of all people could possibly come from a similar background."

Weiss shrugged "I've been mulling over that since we initially met him. No matter how you cut it, Krimp's disposition should not be possible to cultivate in an environment such as his. The Sheer difference between his ideals and those of someone like Bubol leave much to consider."

"Bubol, he was that guy who took off with Yang right?" Pyrrha asked, and when she received confirmation she placed a hand to her chin "Was he really so bothersome?"

"He was disgusting." Ruby said with a frown "Every chance he got he kept making these really off-putting innuendos, not only to us but the guys working with him too."

"He was pretty sick with something, had boils growing all over." Blake commented " But he certainly didn't fight like it."

Oh Ruby was more than aware of that, thinking back to that leering grin stretched across the Archer's face as he stood over her. Ruby had never before held contempt towards anyone in her life. The criminals she and her friends fought to stop, they were terrible yes but many of them she knew were just misguided. It didn't keep her from kicking their butts when they put people in danger, but she liked to think she was doing them a favor by stopping them before they could cause too much trouble. The Grimm who threatened everything and everyone she cared for, she always just saw them as a terrible consistency in nature. She hated that they preyed upon the People of Remnant, but always figured that it was just the way that they were designed by nature. She hated that they had to deal with them, but she didn't look upon them with the sheer disdain that she knew many of her peers did.

And she tried seeing the Uruks like that too!

She wanted to think they were just like this naturally, that she could just lump them in with the Grimm. There were already plenty of similarities there in the first place. But the Grimm didn't inspire the same burning sensation of anger in her that a certain Uruk did.

When she thought of the many ransacked villages that had been attacked by the Grimm, it made her sad for its former inhabitants and reaffirmed her choice of occupation. But when her thoughts drifted back to that... that monster hauling her half-drowned sister off to an uncertain fate-

"Ruby?"

The red-head realized she'd been silent for a while, and glanced up to Jaune, who was staring at her along with the rest of the table.

"You uh... you okay there?" he asked as Weiss rolled her eyes

Ruby glanced to her teammates, who both were giving her concerned looks, before swallowing "Yeah, yeah no I'm fine." She said before placing a hand on the table and casually drumming her fingers on it "Just thinking..."

Before anyone could ask her to elaborate, massive bowls of noodles came flying onto the table, landing with astonishing precision in front of the students. So deep into their conversation, the sudden introduction of their meals surprised many of the hungry huntsmen in training. Once the final bowl landed in front of Yatsuhashi, the group turned to the end of their table where the owner stood. He took a single glance at their meals then looked at a notepad in his hand. After confirming he'd gotten the orders correct, he shot the group a small smile before darting back into the kitchen.

"Oh my," Pyrrha looked over the large bowl in front of her "I'd forgotten how big the portions got at this particular location."

"Maybe some could split?" Weiss pondered, glancing to her partner whose eyes rapidly widened at the bowl in front of her "Hey, Ruby are you-?"

"No talking!" the Team Leader suddenly yelped before snatching up the nearest utensil and letting a jovial smile return to her face "Just eating."

As she dug in, Blake and Weiss shared a look before following their teammate's lead and digging in.

Soon noodles were consumed and the pleasant hums of satisfied taste buds replaced the ponderous thoughts uttered previously. Talk shifted to comments on the food or Ren's insistence that Nora pace herself lest she choke on her meal, a far cry from the previous topics which dominated the discussion. With a much less tense atmosphere, the three members of Team RWBY could feel an air of relaxation one could only get with good food, good talk and good friends. It was quite therapeutic.

"Man," Jaune said as he leaned back from his bowl, taking a break from the menacing task of finishing such a monster of a meal "Sun and them would've loved this." he sighed before glancing towards Fox "Hey, think the rest of your team would be into this?"

The Pale-eyed boy chuckled "I think Coco would be down for anything really, and Vel would probably go along with it just because she would."

"Really now?" Blake seemed a bit skeptical "Just because Coco would?"

"Yeah Coco could make almost anything look appealing, its why she's got that fan group who keeps sending her letters." Fox mentioned casually before turning and nudging his teammate in the side "Hey, bet you she dragged Vel to some clothing shop and made her do one of those dressing montages."

"How does one simply _do_ a dressing montage?" the larger student questioned

"Would you honestly be surprised if Coco somehow found a way to?"

Yatsuhashi actually paused at that before shrugging "No, not really."

* * *

 **Elsewhere in Vale**

"-and then after we get you into the one with those chocolate colored cuffs we may be able to match it up with the skirt." Coco concluded whilst reclining on a bench at a bus stop, shifting her glasses for a moment before eyeing the girl who shared the bench with her. Sitting on the other side, Velvet seemed to nervously sift through the information her team leader was putting forth. At their feet were several excessively large bags, the result of their recent stops at several of Coco's favorite stores.

"S-so, that's good right?" she asked hesitantly, to which Coco shrugged

"If by good you mean it'll finally give those hips the attention they deserve, then yes oh so very yes."

"What?" Velvet went wide-eyed at that "But I thought these were supposed to be casualwear?"

"Listen hun," the fashionista waved off her friend's worries "if there's one thing I hope you take from ol Coco, its that casualwear shouldn't be underestimated or denied its ability to bring out the best curves possible."

"But I-" the Faunus was silenced by a finger pressed to her lips

"Shhh, young one." Coco shushed her before lifting one of the shopping bags with her "Do you hear that?"

Velvet shook her head.

"That, my friend, is the call of the cloth, begging to be warn and strutted in just the right way by just the right girl." She spoke with the wizened words of an olden sage as she removed her finger from Velvet's lips "You shall be that girl."

"Okay, I guess I can wear them." Velvet gave in, unable to resist the expectant look aimed at her "But can I do it when its just the two of us?

Coco looked as if her favorite beret had just been stepped on in front of her "Vel, what use is there for clothes if not to be seen wearing them?"

"Well," she reached for one of the bags and pulled out a top to look over "it's just that I don't think I'd look good in all of them."

"Heh." Coco chuckled before reaching over and pulling the Faunus into a one armed hug "You'll be downright mouth-watering when I'm done working my magic, you'll be so irresistible that guys will be asking you out right in front of their girlfriends."

"I don't want to cause troubles for couples."

The Fashionista rolled her eyes before suppressing a snicker and reaching over with her other hand "You really are the cutest little thing ya know?" she said before pinching her teammate's cheek playfully.

"Ack! No Coco, we're in public!" Velvet protested while trying to push her team leader away

Coco was about to give a snarky reply, when pounding footsteps drew her attention from her teasing. Glancing away, she spotted a bunch of people scrambling to get away from a nearby train station, racing down the stairs to put as much distance as possible between them and it. Her grip on Velvet loosening, the Faunus managed to push away from her companion only for a moment before also being distracted by the fleeing citizens.

"What were those things?" One shouted

"Who cares, just run!"

"Are they following us?!"

The two girls watched the fleeing civilians for a moment before Coco sighed and released her teammate from her grasp. She glanced over to the train station with a smirk as Velvet rose behind her, one hand massaging her cheek as she gave the building a cautious look.

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

"Idiots!"

Ishga paced in front of several Blood-Brothers, who rightfully looked meek in the face of a superior's anger. They were gathered beside a row of benches inside the Train Station, which had been hastily vacated by many of the civilians once the group of Uruks had charged in unannounced from seemingly nowhere.

"You were supposed to grab them! Now we have even less time before retaliation draws near!"

One raised his hand "I thought we was s'posed to just grab the stuff on the metal thingie?"

He jerked a thumb back to the train currently stalled there, which most Ishga's hunters had already boarded and begun picking through the contents. The last one was busy helping one of Skak's boys with his part of the mission.

"Yes but until those runts get that conductor talking we aren't going anywhere." the Blood-Storm growled as he folded his arms "I don't know how to operate this machine and they can only torture him so much until he becomes incapable of doing it on his own, they'll need all the time they can get."

"Blood-Axe says not to worry none."

Ishga sighed before glancing to Skak, who was kneeling besides a Kiosk and looking over some of the pictures on it curiously. He raised his axe and pointed to it whilst continuing to look "Weak man ain't gon last too long, he says. And he's quite the knowledgeable one in these kinds a things."

"Oh yes," Ishga shook his head "how very so helpful."

"Sides, look at this place Ish!" The brawny Uruk stood and walked around the large station floor before spreading his arms wide "We's inside a human city, didn't have to break no walls or dig under it either. Just one drawing and BAM! Instantly here."

"This is no time to appreciate the glory of the Dreamer Gate." Ishga insisted as he strode over to his partner "We must keep on our guard and hold this position until this machine can get running."

Skak was about to answer, but paused and raised his weapon to his ear instead. He nodded to something before glancing down at Ishga "Oi, he's still wondering why we ain't carting this stuff back to the gate instead of beating on the that driver guy? Probably go easier."

"Did you not listen to a word the Warchief said!?"

The larger Uruk paused at that, raising his free hand to his chin and glancing to the side as he tried to recall.

"Ugh, you brainless-!" Ishga paused to take a calming breath before pointing at the Axe-wielder threateningly "Just make sure your grunts have all entrances surrounded, we don't have time for-"

"'Sup guys?" Coco asked

"In a minute tark I'm busy." Ishga waved her off before returning his attention to Skak "We can't let anyone-"

The Hunter's head jerked backwards to find two human women standing near the entrance of the Train station, one staring at them wide-eyed while the other gave them a casual wave. They both seemed to have small boxes strapped to their sides, and the wide-eyed one's hybrid nature was immediately noticeable due to the out of place rabbit ears.

"Oh hey Blood-Axe, look!" Skak raised his weapon and pointed them out "Pinkskins!"

"Who was supposed to be watching that entrance!?" Ishga wheeled on the rest of the Uruks, zeroing in on one of the Blood-Brothers he'd previously been scolding

"We were, but ya dragged us away to give us a scolding, remember?"

Ishga groaned out loud.

"Coco!" Velvet whispered urgently from behind her team leader "What a-are those things?"

"Dunno, kid." Coco replied with a curious grin as she watched the shorter one berate his peers "They look pretty cool though."

"Cool?!"

"We could probably ask them." Coco winked back at her before calling out to them "Hey guys!"

Ishga paused in his angry spoutings to glare back at them, narrowing his eyes as he watched the one with the eyepieces speak.

"So are you guys monsters or-?"

"Silence!" Ishga interrupted before striding forward and drawing a spear from his pack "Your nascent curiosity has forfeited your very lives, surrender now before you make even more of a mockery of yourselves!"

"Yeah, better do what Ishga says." Skak chuckled as he spun his axe "He's been havin' himself a hectic day and all, so getting away with this dust stuff here would really make things simpler for him."

He barely finished before receiving a palm to the side of the face from said Hunter.

"You idiot!" Ishga barked "Why in Sauron's name would you just go giving away information like that?!"

Coco's eyebrow rose notably, a bunch of random humanoid creatures just come out of nowhere and hijack a dust shipment? She'd known since becoming a huntress that her line of work would lead her into some pretty strange scenarios, what with the ever changing dynamics of Grimm, Crooks and the people she was sworn to protect. Even so, this wasn't even in the top twenty wacky scenes she'd expected to find herself in. Well, the whole robbing dust thing was, it was the fact that she had no idea what these things were that mixed up the game. Still...

"Hey Vel," she spoke to the concerned Faunus at her side "I don't know about you but the idea of these guys making off with that much dust doesn't really sit well. You feeling up to it?"

Velvet didn't immediately respond, still staring in disbelief at the... the things currently standing before her. The smaller one, Ishga the other called him, was still yelling at his cohorts, while the one with the absolutely gruesome looking Axe just cackled at his partner's rage.

"I-I don't know what they are." She finally said before taking a breath and nodding "But what they're doing isn't right, we have to stop them don't we?"

"That's my girl." Coco patted her on the shoulder encouragingly before glancing at their quarries "Hey boys! Don't think we can let you get away with that stuff you've got there."

Ishga paused in his rantings to turn his glare on them "Do you foolish beings imply that you even _have_ the capability to stop us?"

"Eh, seems pretty obvious that's what they were going for." Skak scratched his head as he watched the two humans adopt ready stances and gestured for his Blood-Brothers to do the same.

Ishga shook his head at that and gripped his spear tightly in his hand "Subdue them." he called to the grunts with a scowl before stepping forward and pointing to the two girls "The both of you have placed your lives under the boots of the Uruk-Hai, remember that when we're crushing them out of those pitiful bodies of yours."

With that he released a loud roar which sparked the Blood-Brothers into action, giving their own battle cries as they charged the two huntresses in training.

Velvet faltered a bit at the unabashed display of blood-thirst from these odd foes, but a single reassuring glance from Coco was enough to steel herself and intercept the first of the oncoming attackers.

Ishga glanced to the train, wondering whether he'd have time to check on the progress of the Interrogation before he'd need to get involved.

He turned back to the brawl and watched the two girls hold off the onslaught of Skak's underlings, the hybrid dodging the swings of swords and clubs before retaliating with her own quick jabs and punches while the other one was fending them off with that box of hers.

Skak looked on as well, nodding as he watched before glancing to his weapon "Fight good for measly women folk." he said before turning to the Hunter "Hey Ish, ain't these two-?"

He had halted when seeing the massive grin spreading across Ishga's face, unused to seeing happiness in his partner's expression except when dealing with his Warchief "Ishga? You okay, mate?"

"He was right!" the Hunter clapped his hands together once more "Yet again our Warchief's power shows no bounds!"

Skak raised an eyebrow until a spear was pointed at him "You, crush that bespectacled harlot!" Ishga ordered, "I shall subdue the Hybrid."

Coco dodged to the side when one of the Uruks tried grabbing her, spinning and cracking him in the jaw with her case before swinging it down on another's head. A roar from behind prompted her to raise her case and catch the incoming swing, raising a leg and planting her foot in the attacker's gut before leaning out of the way of another swing.

These guys weren't too bad, a lot hardier than the usual thugs she'd beaten down before but she could manage. The saving grace here was that none of them seemed to have firearms, what with their arsenal consistent mostly of medieval albeit deadly looking weaponry.

Glancing to her teammate, she smirked at the sight of the normally nerve-ruled rabbit maneuvering her way through the attackers and fighting back with a level of intensity most would assume impossible for the former bully-victim. She allowed herself a small modicum of pride at this display, which immediately switched to concern when she spotted the figure sneaking inbetween his underlings towards her.

"Hey Vel! On your right!"

Velvet just finished kicking an Uruk in the back of the head when she heard this, immediately spinning to her side just in time to slide out of the way of a spear. As soon as it passed her it suddenly changed momentum and swung towards her once more. As she dodged it, a red and white hand shot out towards her. Without enough time to doge, she instead swung her forearm into the Uruk's wrist before he could latch on. With enough time to get a good look at the attacker, she recognized the one the others labeled as Ishga.

Narrowing his eyes at her, the Captain let his grin grow wider "The Master saw you! Saw you both. If you think that an Uruk gifted with _his_ knowledge could possibly fail, then allow us to rectify this abhorrent misunderstanding... through pain!"

The spear came swinging again, and Velvet lunged backwards out of its range just as Ishga raised his free hand to his mouth and whistled, at once the Blood-Brothers around them darted towards her again.

"All at once, deny her retaliation!"

True to his orders, the Uruks began swinging their weapon simultaneously, forcing Velvet to focus entirely on dodging.

Spotting the sudden shift of strategy, Coco rolled her eyes before cracking another Uruk in the side of the head with her case and moving to transform it. Before she could do so a sudden battle cry caused her to glance behind her just as an axe came swinging at her. Twisting to raise her case, she was thrown off by the excessive force put into the swing, which knocked her case to the side.

Sensing an impending follow-up, Coco spun with the momentum in order to bring her case up again just in time to catch the downward swing which had nearly befallen her. Releasing a small breath at the strength she needed to stave off the attack, she gave a smirk to its perpetrator.

Skak released a hearty laugh as he tried forcing his weapon through her's to no avail, "Oi, Blood Axe!" he called out to his weapon "Take a nice long look at this tark! The stupid wench brought a box to a battle!"

He laughed some more before locking eyes with her and grinning "Let's show her just how much of a mistake that was."

Though Coco was often one to whole-heartedly partake in the noble game of battle-field trash talk, she was so distracted by the sight of a fighter literally chatting with his weapon mid-battle to offer one of her usual retorts. She had a deep fondness for her beautiful bringer of pain too, sure, but that's the kinda thing you keep private lest you have your opponents laughing at you... which she was trying not to do at this very moment.

Skak finally reared back with his weapon for another swing, giving Coco the opening to kick him back before turning to beat another Uruk out of the way.

Velvet was managing, growing accustomed to the timing of the Uruks and their attacks, she'd managed to work around their simultaneous attacks and go back on the offensive once more. Though it was a tedious process, her attacks didn't have enough of the force her leader's did, and Uruks who'd been beaten to the floor would push themselves back up after several seconds of dazed cursing. She'd had to start kicking downed opponents before they could get back up, using their startled states to break through their surprisingly hefty auras more effectively.

But even that didn't stop them from getting back up, though it was easier to beat them down afterwards. Their sheer stubbornness drawing the fight out for far longer than she was comfortable.

Then there was Ishga, who would capitalize on every opening the bunny girl left.

Jamming her elbow into the side of one's head only led her to immediately glance around for the hunter, her eyes moving around the attackers before spotting a raised spear and immediately rolling out of the way as it sailed towards her. She stood just in time to lean out of the way of another Uruk's fist and ram her elbow into the attacker's nose.

Once again she turned to spot Ishga, only to find him right before her mid-jab. She jumped back, only to be pushed forward by an Uruk behind her towards the spear. Thinking quickly, she leaped over the attack towards the Captain, whose eyes widened as he anticipated what she was doing. He raised his arm to intercept the spinning kick, but was still sent rolling from impact.

He stood with a growl before clenching and unclenching his fist, he turned to check on Skak just in time to see the brawnier Uruk tumble away from Coco holding a hand to his head. His eyes traveled to his partner's quarry just in time to see her case shift forms, to which the Blood-Storm narrowed his eyes as she watched it shift into a much larger weapon.

He didn't know what it was, but the way she was holding it reminded him of something. As it began revving up, his gaze immediately shot to Skak "Move!"

The Axe-wielder had just shaken off the last attack when he heard the Hunter's call and, seeing the weapon aimed at him, he complied. All of a sudden bullet holes appeared in the ground he was previously standing in.

He was nowhere as fast as his partner, and Coco began hefting her massive Gatling cannon towards him, wouldn't take much to blast him then help Vel-

Ishga collided with the barrel of the weapon feet first, throwing her aim and the trail of bullets high as she stumbled back. As her rounds chewed into the station's ceiling, Coco released the trigger just as the blunt end of a spear cracked her in the jaw. Immediately letting the weapon shift again as her aura flared, Coco sought out the smaller Uruk. Spotting him mid-throw, she swung her case and smashed the oncoming spear out of the air, snapping it in half in the process.

Ishga stood with a contemplative hum as he grabbed another spear from his pack. He glanced to a winded Skak, then to the Hybrid who was still dealing with the underlings who had gotten somewhat uncoordinated without his influence.

"Skak," Ishga grunted "Deal with the Hyrbid."

The Axe-Wielder merely shrugged before glancing to his weapon "Welp, ya heard em."

As Skak ran towards the brawl, Ishga raised his spear and spoke "Why not run? Your chances of holding against us are nil."

"Eh," Coco shrugged "Guess the danger's just too enticing."

The Spear-thrower groaned "And just when I thought there were no other ways for your race to disappoint me."

He shook his head, crouched, then darted towards her.

He ducked under her case and prepared to jab her again when catching the subtlest of shifts in her footing prompted him to slip back before she could kick his legs out from under him. Grumbling, he lunged back in as he sought an opening for attack.

Velvet meanwhile, was having a much easier time now that Ishga was focused on her leader. Skak's swings were much heavier, but slow enough for her to dodge with relative ease compared to his nimbler counterpart. With more room to focus on downing the underlings, the Blood-Brothers were downed several more in number as Skak struggled to keep up with the Faunus.

And then it happened, hearing the now-familiar swish of an axe through the air Velvet ducked under it before spinning and jamming her elbow into the Uruk's ribs. It was when her attack connected that she saw it, the Axe-wielder's Aura was flickering dangerously.

Seeing an opportunity to take one of the Captains down, Velvet quickly spun again, this time rising so her forearm slammed into the side of Skak's face before he could recover. He straightened his jaw and swung his axe once more, which she ducked under before swinging her leg high.

The impact of her foot and the Uruk's jaw sent Skak reeling back to his knees as his Aura finally gave out. Hoping to render him unconscious before the incoming Blood-Brothers could give him a chance to recover, Velvet rushed to him rearing back for another kick.

Skak on the other hand was massaging his jaw as he spotted the incoming Hybrid, eyes transfixed on her for a moment before being drawn momentarily to his axe. He looked at it for a split second before his expression was stretched into an intense snarl, and he glanced back up at Velvet right before his arm shot above him.

Before her foot could connect with him the arm came down and pinned her leg to his side right before he lunged forward, using his own weight to force her on to her back. Though shocked by his sudden recovery, Velvet had enough foresight to worm her other leg in-between them mid fall. Though the impact of her back onto the station floor was bad, the sight of Skak raising his axe high once he was on top of her was worst. Sending her free leg cracking into the bottom of his jaw, she managed to stun him long enough for her to wiggle out of his hold and drag herself to her feet.

"You ain't gonna deny Blood-Axe a meal!" Skak bellowed as she turned back towards him "Ain't gonna happen!"

Swallowing nervously as a certain feeling of dread became present in her gut, Velvet raised her fists just as Skak came charging at her whilst swinging his axe Wildly, the blade of it cutting off pieces of the floor as he passed. Velvet darted forward and slipped underneath one of his swings. Before she could aim for the back of his legs his elbow immediately shot backwards and buried itself in her spine.

Pain lancing through her despite the blunting of the attack via aura, she hastily rolled away from his side just as his axe buried itself where she previously was.

"No no!" Skak barked before tearing his weapon out of the ground and pointing at her with it "Get back here so we's can mulch ya!"

Before she could consider his sudden swiftness, the Faunus had to dive out of the way as one of the Blood-Brothers' weapons cleaved towards her. As her attacker glared at her, a presence at her side clued her in to another's presence at her side. Leaning out of the way of another Uruk's upward slash, Velvet prepared to send her fist into one of his joints when he was suddenly shoved aside by Skak.

Eyes widening, the huntress-in-training pulled back. His fist sailing just over her chin. Growling, Skak planted his axe in the ground beside him and used it to balance himself as he raised his leg and kicked her away.

"Vel!" Coco called out as she watched the Faunus skid along the ground before shakily getting back up "Just hold on, I'll-"

"Rude not to focus on your quarry!"

Coco spun as Ishga dived past her spear swinging, he slid on the ground before righting himself "Usually the goal is to focus on surviving when so overwhelmingly outmatched."

"So your pal's a tough customer, big deal!" Coco replied, noticeably less snarky than before "We've dealt with tough customers before."

"Ah, but the thing about my dim-witted friend here is that the idea of losing sickens him to quite an astounding degree." Ishga said before glancing away with a frown "Not that his often lackluster performance would indicate this, but at least he knows where his strength counts:"

Ishga gripped his spear tightly before settling his gaze on her once more and sighing "When an opponent least expects it."

Coco narrowed her eyes behind her glasses, readying her Case for another onslaught as she called out to her Teammate "Velvet, use it!"

Still dodging Skak's swipes, the Faunus glanced to her teammate even as the Blood-Axe continued slicing through the air at her "I thought we were saving it for-!"

"I feel as though living may be more of a pressing matter, hun." she said as she leaned out of the way of a thrown spear just in time to back out of the way of another "Just do it!"

Swallowing nervously, Velvet leaped back away from another cleaving strike as she reached for her own case. A roar from the side drawing her eyes to one of the Blood-Brothers who'd managed to sneak around her while she was busy with his Captain. The second it took her to dodge a swing of his club was apparently all it took. The second she felt the club swishing through the air past her, she was rocked by an impact to her hip which was held back by her Aura.

Glancing down quickly, Velvet's pupils shrank as she saw the Blood-Axe buried in her case.

"No toys ta turn to Tark!" Skak yelled as he planted a boot to her stomach and kicked her away while simultaneously pulling back on his weapon and yanking the now destroyed box from her hip.

Velvet stumbled back, eyes still glued to the remnants of her case still stuck to the Axe as Skak lifted it and slammed it onto the ground, fully cleaving through the box and her weapon inside. The two halves clattering to the ground on either side of the Blood-Axe before Skak pointed it towards her "Just you!"

With that he ran at her again with another flurry of axe swings

Velvet tried focusing on the fast swings of the axe as Skak continued pressing, the worry presented by any of the surrounding Blood-Brothers now mingled with the shock of being disarmed before she could even draw her weapon. Suddenly Skak lunged forward with his free hand, prompting Velvet to leap back as his fingers dug into the solid ground. How? How was he still this much of a threat without an Aura?!

That single thought gave one of the other Blood-Brothers the opportunity he needed, as suddenly Velvet found a pair of arms sliding under her own and restraining her.

"Got her boss!" the Uruk behind Velvet called out "Gore her! Gore her good!"

In the midst of the other fight Ishga had lodged a spear inside the handle of Coco's case, and was currently trying to keep her locked there as she attempted to get her case back.

"Remember training with Fox, Vel!" Coco called out as she pulled, "You know how to get out of that one!"

"No you idiot!" Ishga called out to his partner as well "We need her alive!"

Skak didn't seem to be listening, rearing back to lunge into Velvet's restrained form Axe-first.

But Velvet was listening and, after a brief moment of shaking loose the dread the incoming Uruk inspired, leaned forward before ramming the back of her head into her captor's nose.

Immediately his hands reached for his face, giving Velvet enough space to slip out of his grasp and dive to the side just as Skak plowed into him. Looking up, Velvet was briefly stricken by the sight of the axe now lodged inside her former Captor's chest, his aura apparently not enough to hold back such direct force. The Uruk let loose a roar of pain as his hands went to the axe to try and pull it out. They stopped once Skak yanked on it, finding difficulty in retrieving his weapon. The Blood-Brother hissed at Skak's unsuccessful attempts, and was about to release another yell when Skak's boot was planted firmly on his neck. With a sickening meaty sound Skak tore the weapon out of his underling's chest.

"Captain's gone Blood-Thirsty!" one of the other Blood-Brothers shouted out "Back up ya globs, or you'll be next!"

As the underlings began backing away from the two, Skak took the moment to rub some of the black Uruk blood from his axe with his thumb. As he stuck his thumb in his mouth to taste it, the wounded Uruk below rolled onto his side clutching the chest wound and cursing.

Velvet was stuck staring as he savored the taste, but not out of fear. She was thinking about the way he'd struggled to free his weapon, a plan forming in her head as she glanced about the station. Once her eyes settled on something she knew she could use, she stood straight and readied herself for Skak's next attack.

"Blood-Axe ain't never had no Hybrid blood before." he said as he tapped the blade of his axe to the ground

"T-then I guess he never will." Velvet replied, watching as Skak's burning rage returned in full force.

Holding Blood-Axe in two hands he barreled towards her, swinging at her once she leaped out of the way of his charge. She landed on a nearby bench made of wood and metal, one of the many places passengers would wait until their train arrived.

"Get back here and sate him already!" Skak growled before crouching.

Velvet narrowed her eyes as the Uruk lunged towards her Axe-raised, and immediately leaped past him just before the weapon was buried in the wood and metal. The Brawny Uruk tried to turn towards her, but found his Axe stuck in the wood and metal of the bench, the very bolts holding the seat to the ground now effectively anchoring him and his weapon there.

Now was her chance, watching as Skak crouched and yanked hard in order to free his weapon, she dashed towards him to capitalize on his momentarily disarmed state. Skak glanced back at her, seeing the incoming Faunus made his anger flare up once more.

Before her very eyes, Velvet watched as he released another roar and pulled harder. Veins and muscles tensed tightly under his hide as the sound of torn metal reached her ears.

He was pulling so hard that the entire bench was being uprooted.

But she was still mid-dash, as she watched him spin with the now dislodged bench hanging off his weapon she realized that there was no way she'd be able to dodge in time.

He finally dislodged the bench from his weapon mid-swing, sending it sailing towards Velvet. Thinking quickly she dropped to her knees and skidded underneath the piece of furniture as it careened over her and collided with the side of the train.

Before she could rise Skak's boot reared above her and sailed down, she crossed her arms over her chest to keep him from breaking her ribs, but found him pressing down upon her and pinning her in place. Struggling for a moment, the sight of him raising his axe prompted the Faunus to toss his boot to the side and roll to her feet.

But it was as Skak stumbled to the side that a memory surfaced, one of a similar situation only moments ago. Putting what he remembered into practice, the Uruk spun into the stumble, gripping Blood-Axe in both hands as he used his own momentum to swing it back around.

So when Velvet got to her feet, she was unprepared when the weapon connected directly with her head.

She was blinded with pain as her aura practically screeched under the sudden effort, but she could feel herself colliding with the ground as her vision slowly returned. Knowing the dangerous position was in, she struggled to push herself back to her feet when she paused at the slightly blurred sight of red drops on the floor below. Bringing a hand to her face she winced at a large gash going along her cheek. It was nothing compared to the damage she could've sustained if her Aura hadn't been up, but what made her pause was the fact that her Aura was still up.

He'd carved through it!

"Get up, Vel! Before he-!"

"Be careful with her you braindead whelp!"

Before the Rabbit Faunus could ponder the sheer amount of force he must've hit her with, the sound of boots behind her prompted her to rise and lunge away. Before she could even hope to get to her knees meaty fingers dug into her scalp before rearing back.

She saw the ground incoming right before another blinding pain left her dazed. She tried blinking the stars from her head as she felt the grip on her head tighten, she tried to push herself from the ground or do anything to keep that from happening again. Skak merely raised her off her feet before driving her head against the ground once more, watching the Hybrid's Aura finally fizzle out as her attempts to struggle out of his grasp weakened.

"Blood-Axe says you're done!" He called out as he planted his axe in the ground and lifted her in his grasp, free hand clenching into a fist as he reared back "And I agree!"

Velvet went limp the moment the Captain's fist collided with her unprotected face, the repeated attacks having opened up the gash in her cheek to worrying levels.

"Finally get you a meal now, eh?" Skak gave a hearty chuckle as he reached for the handle of his weapon.

"No!"

Skak blinked and looked over to Ishga, who was still holding back a now enraged Coco.

Wait, she had been the one who yelled at him, so why did the Hunter look so angry?

"Dreamer said Alive!" Ishga cried out as he dodged the fashionista's case some more "Don't go killing her you daft fool!"

At that, Skak glanced over to the limp girl in his grasp before bringing her to his ear and listening, pulling away only when a shaky breath escaped her "She's breathing."

"Can't say the same for you once I get my hands on you, big shot!" Coco spoke up as she tried breaking through Ishga's defense.

"Forget about her, get the Hybrid on the train before-!"

Suddenly the large doors on one of the train cars slid open and two Hunters poked their heads out.

"We got's Tark beggin for mercy!" One called out with a cackle "We's can go whenever-!"

They paused at the sight of Ishga locked in combat and Skak holding an unconscious Hybrid in his hands.

"Is we interrupting something?"

Ishga shoved Coco back and yelled back to them "Get us moving!" before turning to Skak and his underlings "Board it now!"

One of the Hunters nodded and darted back inside as the other one raised his own spear.

"But what if the others ain't done with the Gate?!" One of the Blood-Brothers called out as their wounded already began stumbling towards the train.

"Then they'll be the ones who are done," Skak said as he hefted Velvet over his shoulder and tore his weapon out of the ground "obviously."

Coco steeled her gaze as Ishga tossed his weapon in between his hands, if she could just get past this one.

Movement from the edge of her vision brought her attention to the train, where two smaller looking Uruks with spears clambered on top of it before readying their weapons.

One threw his spear, to which Coco dodged easily only for her to immediately have to bring her case up to deflect several more jabs from Ishga. Seeing her about to retaliate, the Hunter leaped out of the way of her swing and pointed his spear skyward.

"Can't break through MY tactics worm!" he cried out just as three spears sailed past him. As soon as she finished dodging them he charged in once more, jabbing at her with his spear just as she leaned out of the way and brought her elbow down on the spear, snapping it in half and pulling him over her shoulder before spinning towards the train.

The Hunters were now jogging across the cars as the train began moving, keeping her in their range. Below more Hunters could be seen helping the Blood-Brothers on board, reaching out from several cars to haul their brawnier counterparts in. Skak merely approached with a casual walk, holding a full conversation with his weapon about all the fights they'd get into once they were back.

Coco gritted her teeth as her weapon shifted again, as tempted as she was to shoot him she knew that with a wounded Velvet there'd be more risk than reward in that line of thinking. Instead she turned the growing barrel towards the three hunters, if she could just scatter them then she'd be clear to charge the rest without having to worry about their spe-

Ishga darted past her and jammed his spear directly into her weapon before it could finish transforming, a sickening crunching sound bellowing from the large gun as the wooden weapon snapped and clogged its innards. Ishga merely released a cackle as he raced for the now departing train. Though the pained sound of her weapon tugged at her, the sound of his laughter forced the Team Leader to make a split second decision.

Tossing her battered baby to the ground, she took off after him.

Skak opened the door to the pilot's cab, where a hunter had his spear aimed to a bloodied and beaten human in uniform who was shakily working the controls before him.

"Faster Tark!" the Blood-Hunter prodded the man with the tip of his spear, Skak noted the other spear wounds on the man's back "Work good and maybe you might have chance of seeing ya runt again!"

Having dumped the hybrid in the previous cab, Skak took a moment to appreciate the beating that Ishga's boys put the man through. Skak glanced past the Man and Uruk to the tracks directly in front of them, what he saw ahead made him raise his weapon to his ear and smile "Impressive ain't it? Guess the Boss's Dreams are that accurate. Never would'a thought about trying it this way."

Dodging spears, Coco tempered her breathing as she kept the back of the Uruk in sight. The train cars passed both of them, Ishga edging closer to it as the Hunters kept pace with them. Soon they reached the caboose, and two halted in their throwing to reach down over the edge just as Ishga leaped to them. Grabbing both of their hands, the Blood-Storm laughed as his soldiers struggled to hoist him up.

Ducking under another spear, Coco dropped onto the tracks and followed after them "If you think I'm letting you out of my sight!" She called out to the cackling Uruk "You're wrong! I'll find where you guys ditch the train and-!"

"You thinking we was planning on leaving this beauty?!" Ishga actually looked surprised before laughing again "Oh no, you dimwitted incompetent!"

"We're taking the whole thing!"

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

Dead ahead of the train, a single Blood-Brother finished tightening some leather binds before brushing some sweat from his eyes and stepping back, folding his arms over his broad chest as he looked over the finished structure.

Attached to the tracks was an arc built out of wood several metal supports in key positions. Standing tall, it was by no means something which could stand the test of time, but then again it wasn't intended to last for long anyway. All it had to do was support the large tarp hanging in the center of it for just a few more moments. And the Builder was confident it could in those regards.

Standing atop the arc was the Blood-Hunter who'd aided him in the lifting, currently watching the approaching train grow closer as he swung around the large hook in his hand with anticipation "Almost here it is! Gotta hook it, must hook it for Captain!"

"Calm down ya rascal." the Blood-Brother called to him before grasping the side of the structure and climbing up the arc as well "Save that energy for the run, lord knows ya used a bunch of it helping me get the pieces of this thing together."

"Used gate! No effort for me, no effort for you!"

"Putting it in place would take too long for a single Uruk. Even one as crafty as I." the crafter turned to the incoming train and readied himself "Here it comes, lad, better get it right!"

The Blood-Hunter merely raised the hook in his hand, the movement causing the long chain attached to it jangle "Me speedy! Get it good I will!"

The brawny Uruk merely shrugged before picking up a torch he'd left strapped to the side of the arc.

Then pressed it to the unopened Dreamer Gate drawn on the tarp.

The Gate seemed to swallow the train as it passed inside, the Crafter taking a moment to marvel at the sight before flinging himself on top of the train and being pulled inside as well.

The Hunter on the other hand merely stood and swung the hook one more time before leaping onto the metal transport and imemediately racing along its top. His wrapped feet slapped against the metal surface as he darted towards the caboose, leaping from car to car as he kept right ahead of the gate but never too far where the chain in his hand could pull him back

Coco wasn't getting any closer, she knew that by now.

Ishga continued with a mocking grin as another Spear was thrown at the fashionista, this time she reached out and grasped it mid-flight before spinning and tossing it at him.

Ishga's laugh cut out as he released one of his subordinates' arms in order to swing himself to the side. The spear instead cracked the Uruk he'd released along the jaw, making him flinch back in annoyance as his partner struggled to hold his Captain on his own. It was unnecessary, as Ishga used his free hand to grab hold of the train itself.

Coco cursed under her breath and came to a halt, knowing the futility of catching up to them at that point. As she watched Ishga climb aboard, she took note of some odd structure on the tracks ahead of the train that she was unfamiliar with. She also noted a frantically waving Hunter who raced to the caboose to pass his brothers before kneeling and attaching a hook to the very end of the train.

Then they were swallowed by a portal.

Coco had to take her glasses off for that one.

Before her very eyes the entire train just drove directly into the seething red portal with absolutely no indication of coming out the other side.

But before Coco could begin thinking up her first set of questions, she spotted a chain going from the portal to a large hook attached to the top of the arc. But it was just after she spotted it that the chain suddenly went taut, and she immediately realized what the frantic Uruk had been doing.

The entire arc crumbled in on itself as the train's inertia pulled it down from the other side, the portal vanishing in the process.

* * *

 **Vacuo- Sandstone Cliffs**

Tugog watched and waited, tapping as he stared out over the rolling sands.

"Dreamer!"

The Warchief glanced behind to spy Maku approaching, behind him rose the Desert Tower's imposing form about a minute's jog away. The Hunter gave him a curious glance as he pocketed a scroll.

"Word's getting around that ya think lot's o the guys here got Semblances." The Warmonger pointed out

"I see my Quarter guards have been both listening in and spreading information." The Dreamer sighed "I expect it of them of course but still."

"Whatever, I came by to offer my help in breaking the news to Hork." Maku folded his arms "The Shaman says he knows ya gonna do it anyway so might as well put something in between you and him in case he has one of his moments."

"He knows me frighteningly well," Tugog chuckled before scratching his cheek "I'm sure Hork could appreciate the benefits of having our forces training in these semblance abilities."

"Or he could have them all executed for _tainting battle_." the Warmonger shook his head "He wouldn't let any of the Mystic tribe set up near the Black Gate solely because he found their practices disgusting."

"Even so," Tugog looked up for a moment, wincing at the sun's heat "I've already seen his soldiers using them in my dreams. Whether he reacts to it poorly or favorably he'll warm up to it eventually."

"If ya say so. By the way, what exactly are you doing out here anyway?"

Tugog turned back to continue watching "Just waiting."

Maku took a moment to look around before turning back to his Warchief "Waiting for what exactly?"

"For them to get back."

"Oh," the Warmonger waved it off "ya mean Ishga and his pet idiot. Gone on an assignment I heard, yeah I hope they get back safely too."

Tugog didn't even need to comment on the dripping sarcasm laced within that final statement, for it was at that moment a large Dreamer Gate appeared hovering several inches from the ground in the distance. Maku didn't even have enough time to be surprised when a train suddenly lurched through it and immediately careened into the sand below.

Both Warchief and Warmonger had to steady themselves as the force by which the train collided with the sand caused the very ground to tremble. It skidded through the sand, kicking up the grainy substance as it dug through.

As the two Uruks watched the rest of it slide out of the dreamer gate, they spotted the Hunters on the very edge who were gripping on for dear life as the caboose passed. One crying out in victory as the portal soon closed behind them.

Ishga stood and hopped off the train as it continued sliding, the entire thing nearly capsizing as its momentum carried it closer and closer to the Desert Tower.

The Blood-Storm came to a halt beside his brother and master as he watched with them as the train reached the very edge of the Sandstone Cliff before stopping, the very edge of the front car threatening to tip over and spill into the shanties below.

The hunters who were with him rolled off the side as soon as it stopped, many shaking their heads except for the Runner who was shaking his hook chain, the other half of it having been cut off once the Dreamer Gate had closed.

Seeing that he hadn't accidentally caused massive damage to the Shanties, Ishga doubled over as he released a breath he hadn't known he was holding. He turned to Dreamer and swallowed as he readied some confident words which would no doubt inspire the faith his master had in him, when movement caught his eye.

On one of the Desert Tower's balconies, the doors were thrown open as Dharg the Hell-Hawk charged out with several more Garrison soldiers. He glanced over the edge to the train before glancing around immediately spotting them.

The Garrison Captain rushed to the railing before roaring "WHAT THE SHRAKH DID YOU DO?!"

Tugog raised a hand "No worries, we were just-!"

One of the train car's nearest to them shook as its door was slid open from inside, Blood-Hunters and Blood-Brothers alike spilled out. Most were still shaking their heads and groaning from being inside the train once it landed, several stumbling away to throw up.

Climbing over most of them was an unaffected Skak who stepped over the downed forms of their underlings before tossing an Unconscious Velvet at Tugog's feet "We got's the lass." he said before turning and pointing back to the Train "We got the dust."

He hefted his Blood-Axe over his shoulder "Nice fight, but Blood-Axe needs him some real pinkskin blood after all that teasin'. Gonna go find a slave to chop up."

As he walked off, Ishga finally found his words "Where are you going?! We must relay the details of our efforts!" he yelled to the Brawny Uruk who didn't even look back.

"You have fun with that! Blood-Axe needs his feedin'."

Maku and Tugog watched as Ishga growled and chased after him "Get back here and kneel for congratulations you petulant imbecile!"

The Warchief shook his head "As lively as ever those two." he commented before glancing down to the Faunus "Lively and effective."

"No, but seriously."

Tugog glanced to a still shocked Maku who was looking between the wrecked train and the battered girl at their feet before turning to the Dreamer with questions buzzing around him.

"What _did_ you just do?"

* * *

 **AN: These chapters just seem to get longer and longer. Finally got this one checked ad ready for posting. Maybe I should have some sort of smaller in-between chapters which I can post between full chapters like this in order to tide some over for the duration. I know many stories can live and die by their post time and I know for a fact that mine is almost absurdly long. Sure there's plenty of meat in each chapter to excuse some of that time and I know of other large stories who do something similar, but it doesn't quite feel write.**

 **Anyway, on to this Chapter's Namesakes.**

 **The story between Skak and Ishga was developed after experiencing some noteworthy events in one of my own runs of Shadow of Mordor, namely the one where I started having troubles with the Storm. Before them there was this extremely deadly Hunter I'd fought named Mogg the Elder who wiped the floor with me twice, on the second time soon after he killed me he died in a duel to Skak who at that point wasn't really a concern of mine. He had a hate of defeat and pain but he also had a high number of exploitable weaknesses which made me save him for later. Well once he somehow managed to slay Mogg he leveled up and most of those weaknesses just vanished. Seeing him as a threat now I tried fighting him only to find Ishga ambushing me every time I tried. Seeing how Ishga had nearly an identical list of strengths and weaknesses that Mogg did I came up with this tale of how Mogg was actually his mentor or father figure and he was plotting revenge against me as his Father's rival. But then I had to explain why he was working with Skak, the guy who actually killed the Elder. So I conjured up this new idea where Mogg, being the old-blooded type, demands that Ishga assist Skak instead of kill him. Make him more powerful and respected so losing to him wouldn't be as shameful as it was.**

 **And since Maku looked kinda like Ishga they became estranged siblings who took drastically different approaches to Mogg's death. But Maku is a story for another time.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoy, any and all criticisms positive or negative are welcomed in full so leave a review if you are so inclined to do. Follow or Favorite at your leisure and I will see you all in the next installment of The Dreamer Gate.**

 **Next Chapter: The Wait**


	9. Chapter 9: The Wait

**Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of The Rings, the Middle-Earth universe, Shadow of Mordor/War or RWBY.**

 **This work will contain moments of intense violence, dark and dirty humor, and canonical divergences.**

* * *

 **The Wait**

 _We're on the sandy path to the Tower!_

 _The Tower~!_

 _Off to find the Warchiefs who wield such power!_

 _Such Power~!_

 _And even if we die!_

 _We die!_

 _Well damn at least we tried!_

 _We tried!_

 _And had such fun and merry final hours~!_

Uthug tried to focus on scaling the sand dune, but the singing had nearly broken him. His head throbbed as the tunes rocked against his very being mercilessly, his grip on the musket tightening with every verse until he was sure there were now marks indented in it.

Behind him Tuka took great pleasure in watching Uthug shudder with rage every time the two musically inclined Uruks behind him sung "Hey Uthug, doing okay?"

"Shut up, you already know the answer!" Uthug barked back as he stumbled in the sand a bit, providing Tuka with the perfect opportunity to catch up and stand over him as the Musket-Wielder struggled back to his feet on the uneven terrain.

"Aw, ya seem so downtrodden though," the Berserker tilted his head to the side with a smirk "can't ya tell me what's wrong?"

The Warrior looked up at him with a growl before conversation brought his attention to the two orcs behind them.

Borgu and Zog were walking side by side, being delegated to carry duties. The Defender carried both his weapon and shield, behind him was a slab of wall which he dragged behind him using old metal cords they'd tied to him. Upon the slab was scrap metal from the station and Ashgarn's quote unquote "corpse". Tuka wasn't taking any chances of him pulling that back from the dead shrakh again, they were getting to that tower and showing him to Hork. After that it wasn't really his fault if the fat glob decides he wasn't gonna be a team player and die now was it?

Though initially challenged by the added weight, the Shield-Barer all but forgot about it once he started the first of many songs with Borgu.

The Smaller Uruk had their rations stuffed in a sack which he carried, but he was also in charge of watching the Prisoner, who had to keep ahead of him lest he start jabbing her in the back with his club. That also meant she was at ground zero for most of their songs. One glance at her would prove that she was faring almost as poorly as Uthug was. In contrast to him, she seemed more willing to silently suffer instead of openly suffer in front of her captors.

"Got another round for ya!" Borgu chittered before drumming his fingers along his club, like that the music emanating from him changed tone and tempo to match "Try and find the words for this one, eh?"

Zog listened for a moment, his thick head nodding in tune for a moment before he grinned.

 _Oh~! I ain't got meat and I ain't got drink,_

 _But thinkin' 'bout a battle brings me back from the brink._

 _And~! I ain't got slaves and I ain't got beasts,_

 _but strolling with me mates is as good as a feast._

Uthug looked up to Tuka with pain etched into his features "Please, make them stop! For Sauron's sakes make them stop!"

"But they look so happy," the Berserker chittered "what self-respecting Uruk don't want his boys in good spirits?"

"I ain't in good spirits!"

 _And yet we still find merits~_

"You can't sit there and tell me you can stand this shrakh!"

"Meh," Tuka shrugged before leaning down to him "the sight of you in pain is far more satisfying than their merrymaking is annoying."

Uthug snarled before pushing himself back to his feet with his musket and shoving past the smirking Uruk "Whatever! As soon as we get back I'm washing my hands of all of you!"

"You're in too deep!" Tuka called out with a laugh before following "You know you can't go back without hitching onto my plan, and you know you can't survive ditching us on your own."

"Shut up, I ain't gonna listen to you!"

 _In contrast to all the things he's gotten you to do~_

"Oh! I'm liking these addendums Uthug my boy!" Borgu clapped before making a different beat

"Stop dragging me into your songs!"

 _Why? This don't feel wrong~_

"Enough!" the Warrior turned and charged up the dune "The sooner I get away from you all the sooner I can drown myself in grog and be done with this-"

He paused as he crested the dune, angry footsteps coming to a stop as he looked past it. In the very distance he could see it, the Desert Tower where both Tugog the Dreamer and Hork of the Black Gate were. Uthug's anger faltered at the sight of their goal, sparking up again only when he felt Tuka patting him on the arm.

"Better get that introduction speech ready." the Larger Uruk chuckled before waving behind them "Hurry up folks, we're nearly there!"

He walked forwards as the others crested the dune as well, the Poet audibly gasping at the sight.

"Oh! Look at it in this light! It looks magnificent, glorious, even better than I remember and-!" he paused

"What's that metal snake thing trailing away from it?"

* * *

 **Beacon Academy**

"...Uruks?"

Weiss sighed as she watched Fox scratch his head in confusion, behind him Yatsuhashi was pacing in front of their dorm's door as Ruby tried explaining what exactly it was their teammates had encountered. After splitting up with Team JNPR, who had to assist Jaune with an intense stomach pain he'd received for follishly trying to keep up with Nora's unyielding hunger, the girls had been preparing to say their goodbyes to the CFVY boys when they immediately spotted Coco stomping back to her dorm with a jammed minigun in hand.

She claimed a shipment of dust had been stolen along with Velvet by some suspiciously Orcish guys who just happened to call themselves-

"Uruks. Yeah, Weiss doesn't really like calling them Orcs but they're basically that." Ruby scratched the back of her head "Those bandits we fought? Uruks. The Orcish guys they fought sound exactly like them."

Fox narrowed his eyes before glancing back to their dorm room and calling out to their leader "You hear that? Vel was pretty much kidnapped by Orcs."

There was no response from Coco, and Yatsu came to a stop before shaking his head "We should've been there." he said solemnly before shaking his head "Yet again I'm nowhere near my partner when she's in peril."

"As funny as it would be to see you tagging along during a girls' day out I gotta say that Coco would not have taken kindly to you insisting on going... hell I don't think Vel would even take kindly to that."

"And now she's gone." Yatsu said sadly "Off to a fate we know nothing of."

"Don't worry guys," Ruby spoke up "Ozpin's been working hard to try and stop them, I'm sure he'll find a way to get her back!"

"Geez, how many people know about these guys?" Fox asked

"Rumors are everywhere." Blake commented "Officials have been working to cover up what they can but there's enough hearsay for people to get curious. Someone's going to have to make a public announcement soon."

"Just how much have these guys been getting up to?"

Weiss scoffed at that "Ugh, where to begin?" she raised a hand and began counting off "Lootings, kidnapping, random acts of destruction and violence, they've been apparently contesting with the White Fang."

Blake nodded "And that's just from what we've seen and what could be gotten out of Krimp."

The dark skinned boy tilted his head to the side "Why would Krimp-?" he paused before raising a hand "Hold up, if those bandits you guys fought were Uruks..." he shook his head "Are you guys saying that Krimp is a...?"

Ruby gave a nervous laugh "Well... Yeah that about sums it up."

"Don't feel bad." Weiss commented before glancing away "He has a shocking amount of disarming interpersonal skills."

Yatsu turned to them with a steely expression "Was he responsible for this? That trip Coco and Velvet were on was initially set up between those three in the first place."

"I don't know," Blake thought on it "I still don't understand what Krimp's actually been trying to accomplish by coming here and making friends."

"The possibility is there, but he's had no connection with anyone outside of Ozpin's office since he was initially brought up there." Weiss said as she folded her arms "He's been awfully forthcoming with information, but even then-"

The door swung open suddenly, interrupting the heiress. The five students stood and stared at Coco, who wore an unnaturally intense frown for a moment as she glanced to White haired girl "You say he's up there with Ozpin right now?"

"W-well they were together last time we were there but-"

"Nice." Coco nodded before immediately walking past them all.

"Hey boss," Fox called to her "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to ask him where my teammate is, obviously." she said without even turning back

"Oh boy." Ruby and the others shared several glances before they all moved to catch up with the fashionista

"Coco, you can't just barge into Ozpin's office unannounced." Weiss pointed out "He has a lot on his plate-"

"Well he's about to have a lot more on his plate." Coco commented casually before fixing her glasses and frowning as an unwelcome face popped out from a corner.

Sky Lark of Team CRDL seemed to be in the midst of a book as he turned the corner, not noticing them really until the group was already mostly past him. But then he suddenly looked up and turned back to them, watching for a moment before running to catch up with the agitated lass at the front.

"Hey!" he called out "Hey Coco, have you seen Krimp anywhere? He was supposed to help me... uh... test out a new mod that I purchased... yeah. Then I remembered he was planning on hanging out with you and the Faunus girl today so..."

"You've got a lot of nerve coming near us and speaking of her in such a way." Yatsu commented

Sky glanced back to the giant for a moment before waving him off "Yeah yeah, I get it. Still pissy 'cause me and the boys made your rabbit friend cry or something, whatever. Not here for that. Now do ya- ahem, do _you_ know where Krimp is or not?"

"With Ozpin," Weiss answered with a noticeably more agitated tone "now could your please..."

She trailed off as her eyes lowered to the book in his hands. Sky grumbled at that "Ozpin? Ugh, of course the big guy would just have to be with him of all people." he muttered "Guess I'll have to wait or something."

"Since when are you a history buff?"

Sky glanced to the heiress "Huh?" he glanced to the history book in his hands and shrugged "I saw my grade in Oobleck's was low so I started reading up... duh."

"No but, I seem to recall you always hating history." Weiss commented "You even used to defend your terrible grade by saying how much of a waste learning about a bunch of dead people was."

The CRDL member seemed taken aback by that statement for a moment, even disgusted, before his frown returned "Guess I couldn't ignore this _dumb stuff_ anymore, look just tell me when you guys see him, okay? Okay."

With that he stopped walking and returned his attention to his book with a slightly miffed expression, leaving the students to step around him and focus on keeping up with Coco once again.

"I don't care how much they say they've improved," Blake spoke up "I don't think they'll ever change."

Sky didn't watch them leave, instead he continued flipping through the book, growing more annoyed until a thought hit him.

"Why AM I reading this?"

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

"-and ever since then Ishga's been draggin' poor Skak along on missions in order to improve him and whatnot." Krimp concluded with a bright smile before putting a finger to his lips in thought "Don't got no explanation for the nice timin' they had."

"These things are laughing at us." Ironwood grumbled as he turned away from a hovering screen which displayed the recently assaulted train station and glanced to a contemplative Ozpin "With those Dreamer Gates they can just hop in and out of our kingdoms with ease, we need to go for the Tower."

"What we need to do, James, is deal with the bands of chielfess roaming nearby." Glynda spoke from the other side of Ozpin's desk "Whatever those Warchiefs are planning you can't say they're more of a pressing matter than the raiders their deserters have become."

"But they have enough restraint to stay away from the kingdoms." the General pointed out with a raised finger "Now that the Warchiefs know they can just hop past our defenses and abscond with stolen goods then there's no doubt they'll do it again."

"Stealing or not, the rate at which these Deserters are raiding villages was previously unheard of. By the time we finish finding and launching an attack against their former masters they'll be able to wipe out the rest of the villages!"

"If we don't focus on them now, the only way we'd be able to respond in time to their infiltrations would be by doubling the current military presence." Ironwood said slowly "The people already feel tense with the procession brought to defend the festival, as much as I wish it were true there's a limit to how much we can send here at once."

"Then don't."

The General and the Teacher turned to Ozpin, who finally spoke up "As much of a threat the Forces from the Tower prove given recent events, their actions at least have a higher chance of being mitigated by Vale's current securities. As huntsmen we swore to protect the people of Remnant, and as it is now the Villages are completely defenseless in comparison."

Eyes lowering a bit, Ironwood straightened his attire "So, we go for the tournament?"

"I don't think Ishmol would like ya folk interruptin' his game." Krimp piped up from the side

"Be that as it may, if there really will be as many Chiefless captains in attendance as you say then this provides a golden opportunity to both save their captives and deal with a majority of their forces at-"

Ozpin paused as a flashing light and a familiar beeping sound came from a screen projected on his desk.

"Ooh! Ya got a call!" Krimp said in awe before clapping "Who's it from?"

After glancing to both Glynda and Ironwood for a small moment, Ozpin pressed at the flashing light "What is it?"

"Sir. It's Ms. Adel, she just pushed her way into the elevator along with several other students and seemed quite... agitated. They're on their way up now."

"Let them come," Ozpin said with a hum of thought "Given the timing I'm sure I know what this is about."

After ending the call he turned to Krimp "Though you might want to get your disguise back on, just in case."

It was just as the Uruk gave a confused look that the Elevator gave a telling ding before it opened and Coco immediately marched out before zeroing in on Krimp.

"Hey there buddy," he smiled nervously and waved as the others exited the elevator as well "I was just havin' me a friendly chat with Ozzie and pals! How was-"

Suddenly she was standing right in front of him, pointing at him in an accusatory manner "Did you have anything to do with it?"

Krimp blinked "Wuh?"

"At the train station, did you send them after us?"

"Ms. Adel?" Ms. Goodwitch tilted her head to the side.

"Dude, you're seriously one of them?" Fox commented as he looked Krimp over, but Coco didn't seem to share his awe.

"I heard one of those red guys mention how they knew we'd be there, that he'd heard about it from some Master of there's." she shifted her glasses down a bit before locking eyes with Krimp "And you _were_ the one who set up that little outing of ours."

"But I didn't have anything to do with that! Our time out was supposed to be all about friends, fun and faffin' about! Not battles, blades and beatings. I already seen lots o that and I'm sure ya have too, wouldn't want my fantastic friends facin' the same ole routine now would I?"

"Plus the Precognition and Red Theme fit someone else's current M.O." Ironwood stated "I take it from your lack of shock at his condition and Team RWBY's presence that you've been made aware of our... visitors."

"Bunch o' Orc guys who came outta nowhere, yeah yeah I get it." Coco waved that off before turning to him "So, tell me who this M.O. _does_ belong to."

"Ms. Adel, even if we were to disclose that information, what exactly do you plan on doing with it?" Ozpin asked

"Simple, I'm going out there and getting Velvet back."

"Just like that?" Glynda asked

"Yep, no need to complicate things. Soon as I know who took her I'm heading out and not coming back unless she's with me." the Fashionista paused before lowering her glasses a bit "And from the sound of things you guys already have a pretty good idea, hm?"

There was a moment of silence before Ironwood spoke "There's no certainty to this, but those you encountered sound like the underlings of an Uruk by the name of Tugog the Dreamer. He's said to have some form of clairvoyance and many of his more loyal soldiers prefer red as their theme."

"And you think this guy might have Velvet?" Blake asked

"There's no assurances," Ozpin said "but given what information has already been provided it is highly likely."

"Tug-Tug's got 'imself a nice big tower out in the sands that he and his be sharin' with Hork." Krimp said with a smile

"Good to see that even after being totally exposed, you still try to make yourself useful." Fox muttered, still not quite able to get over the jolly oaf's true appearance.

"Looks like we're off to Vacuo boys." Coco turned to her teammates and began to walk back to the elevator even as Glynda opened her mouth to begin discouraging her.

"She could be headin' to Ishmol's."

As Coco paused the adults turned to Krimp, still standing there with that smile plastered across his chubby cheeks "What?" Ironwood said "There's no evidence that that's what they'd take her for."

"Just sayin'," the Uruk shrugged "the timin' o' this makes it seem likes she could wind up fighting in his arena and all."

"Hold up," Weiss tilted her head to the side a bit "who exactly is Ishmol?"

"He's a renown Uruk Slaver who's planning on holding an apparently extravagant series of slave fights in a few days." Ozpin stated as he folded his hands together "Many Chiefless Uruk Captains and there underlings are planning to attend."

"Making it a perfect chance to deal with a large number of them all at once." Blake noted

"Indeed."

"And you think Velvet's gonna wind up there?" Coco glanced to Krimp

"Just sayin' that when Mollie boy throws a slave tournie there ain't many who could resist turnin' up with they's most dangerous captives and watchin them brawl and whatnot." The Uruk placed a finger to his lips and gave a thoughtful hum "Eh, least of all ya might find someone who knows where she is or not."

"Wait," Ruby stepped forward "c-could Yang end up there too?"

Krimp tilted his head "If she's as good at fightin' as I think she is I'd say she'd be a sure thing for it."

Ruby looked to both her teammate who shared similar looks of concern, though Weiss's shifted to one of doubt as she raised a hand "Now before we let our hopes get ahead of us, do we even know where these things are holding this contest of theirs?"

"We do," Glynda grumbled as she sighed and glanced back to their Uruk accomplice " it would've been easier, however..."

Krimp gave a chuckle as he massaged the back of his head "Yeah see Ishmol was plannin' on givin' info 'bout the thing to the Cap'ns in pieces over the course of several days... Was finally gonna reveal the Arena he said he was workin' on and wanted all the suspense he could get!"

"And the location was planned to be given about two days ago." Ironwood sighed

"And two days ago you were still at Beacon," Blake found the issue almost immediately "weren't you?"

"I was just having so much fun around here that I kinda let it slip my mind a bit."

"Either way," Ozpin began "with what knowledge we _have_ managed to gleam from other captured Uruk-hai we've been able to narrow down the locations to one large enough yet still off the radar enough for the event. With the General's forces and Krimp's help we've even devised a plan which will hopefully end with us apprehending a majority of the Uruks in attendance while also freeing the slaves they brought with them."

"We was gonna follow a Brewer there!" the Uruk piped up

"Excuse me?" the heiress almost assumed she'd misheard him

"Besides captives, one of Ishmol's greatest methods of consolidating power among the other Captains is through production and distribution of large quantities of an alcohol they refer to as Grog." Ironwood pointed out "One of his underlings plans on gaining his respect by showcasing a new formula before the event."

"All you need to know is that we plan on using this to our advantage." Ozpin finished

Coco raised an eyebrow at that, but shrugged before glancing back to her schoolmates for a moment and turning back to her instructors "Guess me and the guys should get loaded up for it then, hm?"

Oddly enough, it was Krimp who raised a hand in objection "Woah woah, guys. I know's ya wants your friends back 'n all but Mr. Ozzie and pals made it perfectly clear that they's wants this mission to be pretty hush hush type o' deal." He said before smiling brightly and jerking a thumb towards himself "That's why only the most trusted pals like me gets to know about it. Because when it comes to my friends I ain't gettin' distracted by a single-Oh lookie, a bird!"

Sure enough, a bird decided to perch itself on the railing beyond one of Ozpin's windows to clean its wings. Krimp wasted no time in pressing his face against the glass to watch the small creature in awe. It regarded the Uruk for a moment before resuming its avian maintenance after identifying him as a non-threat.

"Krimp's lunacy aside," Ms. Goodwitch turned back to the students with a fold of her arms "I simply can't entertain the idea of allowing students to insert themselves into this particular undertaking."

"B-But if Yang and Velvet are there-!" Ruby spoke up before catching her Partner's look of warning and calming herself down a bit before continuing "We can't just leave them."

"I was unable to be there for my partner in the past." Yatsuhashi stated evenly as he looked down in thought for a moment "I will not allow that to happen again."

"I can assure all of you that Atlas has this situation firmly in hand," Ironwood said with surety "we have more than enough Soldiers, Specialists, and AK-Units to negate whatever these criminals could throw at us. You don't need to worry yourselves with it."

"But you will anyway." Ozpin concluded as his colleagues turned to look at him, the silver haired professor folding his hands together as he gave a small, knowing smile "In fact I'm fairly certain that devotion will drive you to Ishmol's Arena whether we allow you to or not, so let's choose the road of least resistance."

" Oz," Glynda gave him an incredulous look "are you suggesting we just allow them to tag along?"

"Of course not, Glynda." he replied before nodding to Ironwood "I'm suggesting you recruit them."

That gave the General pause "What?"

"As huntsmen and huntresses in training they are able to be tasked with aiding active huntsmen in their undertakings. Have them serve under the Specialists partaking in this mission."

"You know we don't do things the same way as you do here in Vale, Oz." Ironwood said after a moment of thinking over the suggestion "But as long as my soldiers find their performance amicable I... I find no immediate fault in a plan like that, just know that they'll have to measure up to expectation. "

"Agreed." Ozpin nodded before turning his attention back to the students before him "I suppose this means you should make haste in impressing whichever specialist you find yourself assigned to, I don't think we need to explain what happens if they find your ability wanting... can you handle it?"

It was the way Ozpin worded that last part that gave the students pause, the way he'd leaned forward a bit and raised an eyebrow in a concerned manner.

"That... almost sounds too generous." Blake commented

"No, its merely accounting for an outcome we don't wish to occur." her Headmaster replied before leaning back his chair and gesturing towards them "I've seen what some Teams are willing to do in order to assure the safety of one of their own, and feel the need to offer a simple alternative to running off on your own or trying to restrain you in some manner. But first I must know... can you handle it?"

They all knew their answer already, and from the looks of it...

...so did Ozpin.

* * *

 **~Vacuo- The Desert Tower~**

Velvet's eyes fluttered open as her vision cleared up, her head hurt something fierce. Just moving it slightly to look up made her skull throb. A dull memory of being repeatedly smashed into the ground came to mind and she closed her eyes and released a disappointed sigh, of course she'd be the one to mess up. She'd let the fear get the best of her, moved too slow.

She could hear a somewhat familiar voice, it wasn't Coco. The Rabbit Faunus was thankful for that, she shuddered at the prospect of facing her leader after such an utter failure.

"Oi!"

Velvet could practically feel someone at her side. She raised her head to the voice and slowly squinted through the pain.

She immediately locked gazes with Skak.

The Uruk stood up immediately and raised his weapon, causing Velvet to flinch at the memory of nearly being decapitated by it.

"Heh, told ya she was awake." Skak said to the Axe before stepping away.

The rabbit Faunus was bound to a chair in the middle of a sparse room, the only other furniture being a table and chair at her side which Skak immediately took for himself. On that table were several wooden mugs and a plate with several bones lying on it which had been picked clean of meat. Right above that table was a small hole in the wall where sunlight spilled in, one look was enough to convince Velvet that she would not be able to fit through it. There was a thick wooden door directly in front of her, a small barred hole on it being yet another small source of light.

Velvet winced as she registered the stinging sensation coming from her cheek and remembered the stinging gash Skak had left upon it, seems her captors had taken the liberty of patching it. She wasn't so confident in how well they'd cleaned it, but at least it wasn't left open.

"Well maybe if you hadn't pissed him off then we wouldn't have been stuck with this gig, eh?"

Her attention was brought back to Skak as he placed his weapon on the table and picked up one of the mugs before taking large, heavy swigs from it. As he did so, his eye traveled down to the axe and he frowned before pulling his mug away and growling at it.

"You was the one who got all hungry again and couldn't contain that thirst o' yours."

The Weapon just laid there.

"Well I didn't know we wasn't gon be bleeding anyone, don't put it on me!"

The axe continued laying there... being an axe.

"Ya couldn't have the conductor! You'd just kill him!"

"W-What's going on?"

Skak turned away from his axe to Velvet, who folded her ears at seeing the agitation in his eyes. The Uruk rolled them and took another swig from his mug "Just Blood-Axe throwing a fit, lass." he said before lowering his mug and giving her a questioning look "Can you believe this fool's whining about how we wasn't cutting you up back there in ya city?"

She winced at the way he said that, but more pressing concerns needed to be addressed "What happened? I mean... after you- after I passed out?"

The Red-Themed Uruk frowned at that "Obviously we took you's and the train thingie, duh."

"And the girl I was with?"

"What about her?"

Velvet's ears lowered "I-is she alright?"

Skak rolled his eyes before looking away and going for another swig "Eh, from how Ishga says it I don't think any of us got around to actually killing her." he said before glancing back at his weapon "Oi? Did the one with the eyewear eat it back there?"

After several seconds he turned back to the Faunus "Yeah no, she should be right as rain provided nobody gave her any good old crippling wounds on our way out."

Velvet tried as hard as she could not to think about that, and instead took a breath "What are you guys... going to do with me?"

Skak placed the mug on the table and grabbed one of the bones before gnawing on it for a moment "Dunno," he said between chews "pretty sure you's supposed to fight some stuff for us or something. Ishga explained it, I think? Wasn't payin' too much attention honestly but I'm fairly certain there's this kinda competition thing we plan on entering you in or something. You'd have to ask Ish for more on that though."

The young Faunus couldn't keep her frown from deepening. They wanted her to fight?

"Why?" she asked, to which Skak just gave her a look before snapping the bone in his teeth and chewing it with the marrow.

"Dunno, like I said you gonna need to ask Ishga, he's the one who decided you'd be easier to nab than the other one... Which he was totally right about by the way."

Coco had went through so much trouble teaching her bunny-eared teammate how to respond properly to insults, but Velvet just didn't have enough will in her at the moment to recite one of the many comebacks her leader had spent time going over with her.

Skak quirked an eyebrow at the lack of response whilst sucking the rest of the marrow out of the other half of the bone and tossing it in as well. He placed one hand on the table and turned to face her before leaning forward a bit and tilting his head to the side "Well?"

Velvet glanced tohim out of the corner of her eye "Well what?"

"Where's your determined statement?"

"My what?"

Skak clapped his hands together before leaning back in his chair and turning to his weapon "You hearing this, mate?" he asked incredulously before turning back and gesturing to her "Look lass, most of the time when we nab one o ya, there's one o two thinks that happen. Either they start pleadin' and beggin for mercy, or they start talking about how they's gonna break free or be rescued soon and that we don't know what hell we'd wrought on ourselves or something like that. Lot of you Hybrid types go for option two, keep talkin' about how the White Fang gonna save ya or whatnot."

"Well I'm not with the White Fang." Velvet said before glancing down again

"What about ya mates then? Ya pal with the eyewear looked right pissed when I took you down."

"Well she should be." Velvet stated before looking down at her knees.

Skak waited for several seconds for any form of follow up before grumbling and picking up his weapon "Well's we's in for a borin few days ain't we? Rather have a loudie I could get some laughs from."

The Axe stared back wordlessly.

"They coulda at least let me rough her up a bit." Skak sighed dejectedly "I'mma get fat and lazy if I just sit here eatin' and drinkin' mate."

"Then why are you even here?" Velvet raised her head to give a weak glare to him "If I'm so boring to you... then why don't you just leave?"

"Welp, since me and Blood-Axe here took ya down we gots to keep watch over ya." Skak said with an annoyed grunt before gesturing to her with his free hand "You's should be grateful, if you wasn't so important 'n dangerous then you wouldn't even get ya own room. Me and Blood-Axe don't get our own room, gotta share it with a bunch of the boys down in the slums."

"Sorry I'm such an inconvenience for you, guess I should've tried a little harder not to let you KIDNAP me."

Skak raised his weapon to his ear for a moment before grinning a bit "You right there, lass." he said before glancing back to the Faunus "Ya make a good point, if we'da had things my way we would've been paintin' ya girlfriend with ya entrails. I mean it woulda been a nightmare if Ish hadn't called out ta me. Ya had me seein' the blood I was plannin' to spill before I even got to spill it."

Velvet was too tired and disappointed with herself to care about the Red Uruk's statements "Why-"

"And Blood-Axe? Oh forget it, the second he saw the two o' ya standin there sayin' how you was going to stop us, all he could talk about was how much he wanted into that pink-skinned flesh of yours."

"Can't-"

"Ya know me and Blood-Axe ain't got to enjoy cuttin' into you hybrids yet. The Big guys say we need the labor. You could understand why we might've gotten a bit into it durin' the nabbing, me and Blood-Axe ain't never killed a Huntsman either. But then we get a Huntsman... who's also a hybrid?"

"Is that what you guys call us? Hybrids?"

"Hn? For you animal tarks? You's beast and man crammed together, so why not? Ain't like we's wrong in that regard, eh?"

"Human and Animal is literally what Faunus means, there's practically no difference."

"So its the same damn thing, geez. Still makes me right." Skak glanced to his weapon "Can you believe this one?"

"But then there's no reason to- whatever." she sighed before pausing and looking him over again "Why couldn't you just have a whole room full of guys watching me if you think I'm so dangerous?"

"You took on more than a room full o my boys and only I managed to beat ya, besides we don't know what ya semblie is."

"My Semblance?"

"Exactly, I'm brawny enough for the guys to think that no matter what magic tricks ya whip out I'd still be able to at least hold ya till reinforcements come. But that means I'm stuck in here... with you and Blood-Axe... not able to go drinkin' with the guys or fighting those Grimm Beasts... just sittin' here and- ah screw it I can train on my own."

With that the Uruk stood up and swung his weapon lightly through the air a few times before walking past her and out of sight. Velvet could here the light swings of the axe switch to heavy chops through the air, and briefly wondered if she should be concerned that he might accidentally hit her.

"Ugh, these next few days are gonna be a drag I can feel it already." Skak muttered as he swung his weapon about, pausing to glance into the eye-holes of his Axe "Bet ya Ish ain't gotta deal with shrakh like this."

* * *

 **Desert Tower-** **Upper most Training Yard**

"So you don't even know what this stuff is?" Maku asked

He was standing beside both Tugog and his brother at the edge of the higher Tower courtyard, all of them staring down at the beached train which already had dozens of Hork's soldiers scouring over it. Around the Warchief and his underlings the makeshift practice dummies that the Garrison train with had been abandoned as most were now captivated by the sight of the long metal behemoth now trailing from their tower.

"I just saw in my dream that Ishga and his accomplice would be interrupted in the midst of stealing this contraption, I saw the grand amount of this substance we would acquire, and that Ishmol was planning on having a tournament. ."

"The slaves call it a Train." Ishga said while nodding towards it, "Say that they use it to transport things through use of a rail system similar to mine carts."

"The Storm has come across these before, and this one's carrying quite the load." Maku muttered before narrowing his eyes "But tell me Dreamer, you knew of Ishmol's little event?"

"I saw that the Chiefless Grog Baron would use his influence to hold a slave fight for all the rest of the deserters to enjoy. I figured that, depending on the accuracy of my visions, we could grab one of the girls and use her as a show of force."

Maku blinked "Y-You plan on using the huntress to win the tournament?"

"Of course, nothing more will show the less than loyal forces who left that we are still strong despite the setbacks. Winning this may convince more of them to return and help us." Dreamer glanced away "I figured since we have a better understanding of the Dreamer Gates, we could take a trip there and partake in their event. With a captive huntress entered in, there'd be no way she could lose right?"

The Warmonger looked surprisingly stunned, having not expected that from the Warchief "Well... that seems like a great plan, Dreamer."

"Thank you, I do wish to speak with the Shaman again and see if he could offer some form of assistance in this endeavor seeing as he no doubt knows of this tournament as well." he turned to look at the swarmed train for a moment "I do hope you and yours find use for this and the... Dust was it? I seem to recall that the Storm delights in learning of new potential weapons."

"As soon as we find space for it, I'm sure Ratlug will find the prospect of studying this Train most enjoyable."

Tugog said before gesturing back to the beached train "But for now tell me, Warmonger, what do you know of the dust onboard this vessel?"

Maku shrugged before walking past them and tearing a pouch from his belt, tugging it open he showed them some yellowish Dust within.

"You have your own?" Ishga asked

"Of course, Shaman had us nab some a while back with some help." He didn't elaborate, merely raising the pouch and pointing to it "You lot have to have seen it before, right?"

"Of course,among the humans and Faunus we captured, many have had some form of it on them." Dreamer admitted before glancing away "But Hork has been adamant on only using it for fire and weaponry. On the train, there are so many types whose functions remain a mystery."

"Oh, dust can be used for far more than that my Warchief." The Hunter chuckled "Different colors means different Elements, mixin 'em together makes different things too. You'd have to talk with Ratlug for more knowledge, just think of it as-"

"Sorcery."

Tugog and his supporters turned to look back at the courtyard, where Hork paced flanked by his soldiers. He had listened in silence as his old friend explained where the train was from, his expression worsening the more he'd heard. And finally when the Warmonger began speaking of the cargo they'd acquired his eyes narrowed as he turned on them.

"More Sorcery and Witchcraft from this awful realm. You're lucky I'm allowing you to claim ownership of _any_ of it after the stunt you've pulled." the giant said with an irritated tone before marching towards them and glancing over the edge to the train "You announce our presence more and more, all for more witchcraft. If not for the sheer amount of metal that beast of a machine offers, I would have Pigug here decapitate you immediately for such bold moves."

"I would do so with pleasure, Master." the Executioner commented with a slight bow

The Warchief gave a pleased grumble at the show of obedience before glaring at Dreamer and his cohorts "That machine is composed of enough raw materials to reinforce both my Tower and my army, but don't expect it to be enough to make up for nearly crashing it into my Fortress. I was generous and allowed you to keep the first two portions of it, and even that hybrid and the mystical powders you felt were worth risking this insane stunt for."

"Ah stuff it," Maku bit before pointing towards the Gate-Keeper "if you haven't noticed you and yours aren't exactly pure of any magics now are you?"

"Pah!" the Gate Defender wheeled on him and growled "This _Aura_ is not a concern! It is an illness which plagues all life on this planet, nothing like the spells and cheap tricks of the Mystic scum."

"You sure? Because it really looks like-"

"Silence!" Hork barked before pointing at him "It is inconsequential compared to the tricks the men of this world coat themselves in. Though we already suffer this, you bring more mystical muck before me. Have you planned on further tainting the art of battle, Dreamer? Pathetic."

The other Warchief looked down for a moment before taking a breath and meeting his colleagues eyes, "If that is how you feel, I feel obligated to inform you that it is already 'tainted' in your terms."

That gave the Massive Uruk pause "What?"

"We are all capable of using Semblances in addition to Aura."

There was silence.

Dharg and Pigug shared a small glance as many of the Garrison forces turned towards their leader. Ishga swallowed audibly and stood firm as Maku rolled his eyes, both watching the Gate-Keeper narrow his eyes at their master.

"Why do you insist on insulting me with more tales?"

"Its true," Dreamer insisted before gesturing towards himself "the Great Shaman came to me and we-"

"He was here?!" Hork interrupted before groaning and looking away "No wonder you've been acting so boldly, that insane Uruk has been feeding you more madness."

"You wouldn't be speaking of my Commander in such a way if he were here now." Maku pointed out with a chuckle, standing resolutely as the massive Uruk spun on him.

"Do not overstep your boundaries Warmonger," the Warchief spat "you are in MY tower."

"No," Maku grinned "I'm in a Tark tower that you and your whelps have been hiding in."

Tugog stood between them before the situation could escalate, casting a small glare down at the Hunter before turning on his old friend "Forget him, you must see that there are grounds for these claims. I'm sure if you asked your soldiers-"

"D-Don't involve us in your lunacy!" Dharg called out in a panicked fashion, Pigug picked up on his worry and nudged him before he could say anything more.

"Indeed," the Executioner grunted before gesturing towards Tugog "your accusations are fruitless Dreamer."

"More fruitless than your ally's attempts to cover for himself?" Maku mocked

"I'll have your tongue for that."

As the arguing began intensifying, Ishga prepared to step in before his brother could incite an untimely brawl. As he moved, however, he was distracted by a growing sound of music. Sure there was the occasional sound of hammers and grunts that were usually heard all over the tower as various Uruks and Slaves worked to reinforce the place, but none of them were as rhythmic as this. This was the sound of drums, what Uruk even had the time for drums nowadays? Head turning, he traced the sound to the large pit in the center of the courtyard where the pulley-operated elevator often arose when not used to transfer supplies all over the structure. It was currently lowered, but as the music grew he realized that whatever was making it was simply riding on the elevator as it approached.

It seemed the others noticed it as well, as soon even Hork and Maku couldn't focus solely on their agitations and instead turned towards the hole as the platform drew closer. As the heads of its passengers became apparent, Ishga found himself...confused.

Upon the platform were two warriors, one of which being the source of the music, a Defender and a Berserker. The music came to a crescendo as the elevator came to a stop, the warrior it emanated from gesturing with his hands in time with it as the Defender hummed along to it. The Berserker, who was more familiar now that Ishga looked at him, attempted to maintain a proper and dignified stance despite the obvious distraction of the musical duo. And the other warrior was covering an ear with his hand, no doubt he'd cover the other one as well but that hand was occupied by an odd spear-like weapon, that was currently placed at the back of a restrained tar-no... it was one of the Hybrids.

"Oh my!" Borgu said as he viewed the obviously strained situation before them "It appears we arrived at a tense time."

Tugog tilted his head to the side as Ishga move from his side to get a better view of the Chiefless Uruks who stood upon the platform. The Defender and the Hybrid he didn't recognize, but he knew the agitated warrior and the Berserker had been part of Ashgarn's gang. Ashgarn, that glutton who'd abandoned his brother in favor of running off with the Diseased Deceiver known as Bubol. What kind of madness could have driven these fools to walk right back to the Warchiefs they'd abandoned?!

He obviously wasn't the only one thinking this, as Hork immediately forgot about Maku and turned towards them fully "What is this? Why have you treacherous grubs set your disgusting boots upon my structure and- an- ugh... where is that music coming from?!"

Borgu gave a nervous laugh before the odd drum beat began toning down, forcing Hork to give an openly confused look.

From behind the group stepped the Garrison soldier working the lever which controlled the elevator, who jerked a head to them "They came by saying they needed to see you Master, since I figured you was gonna have the lot of 'em executed I didn't see why not."

Uthug swallowed nervously before glaring at Tuka "Well you got us here," he muttered as he looked over the various glares that were being casted their way "mind doing literally anything to get us out of th-"

"Borgu the Poet?!"

Uthug was interrupted by a shocked exclamation from Maku of all people. The Hunter's eyes were locked on the lyrical warrior, who seemed as equally confused by the exclamation as his traveling partners "Why yes, that is what they call me."

Maku shook his head and groaned, placing a hand to his head and shaking it for a moment before lowering it "The Shaman's been looking for you for months!"

The Poet blinked "He has?"

"Yeah! We've had our boys and the Chiefless folk combing through Vale's wilderness for a while now!" the Warmonger gave another groan "The hell have you been?"

"Oh, I never got there." Borgu admitted with a shrug "Been spendin' quality time with Gretchen the entire time."

Maku was lost, he glanced to Tuka "Who-?"

"Deathstalker."

The Hunter sighed as Hork folded his arms and glared at them.

The Massive Uruk glanced over the Chiefless whelps before him "I don't suppose the Shaman has any inexplicable desires for any of these other maggots?"

Maku gave him a critical glance before shrugging "Nah, just this one."

"Then perhaps the others would like to explain why they've decided to bring their filth before me?"

Tuka had prepared for interactions with the Shaman's forces once they arrived, what he hadn't anticipated was that the Storm Ruler would already have plans for one of them. That means he had one less shield between him and Hork. Before he could reconsider the benefits of bringing the Poet along, the anger flowing within the eyes before him reminded him to just roll with it.

"Hork of the Black Gates," he paused to take a breath and stand tall before the Gatekeeper "we've come here seekin' amnesty."

The Warchief blinked at that before shaking his head and looking away "And yet the madness doesn't end." he commented under his breath before looking down at the Berserker and tilting his head "You honestly can't expect me to believe that you returned here just to kill yourselves in some asinine attempt at garnering forgiveness for your treachery."

"My Warchief, I simply left so as to keep watch over your brother."

"Do you honestly expect me to believe that?"

"He shares not the strength and power of his brothers, I felt it crucial that I be there in case he required my assistance."

"Bleh," Hork looked away for a moment before glaring at Tuka "that obese pissant can't do anything without somebody's assistance. Couldn't even exist without my coattails to grab onto. The sheer gal you're showing by simply mentioning that rampant disappointment is almost insulting."

"Disappointing he may be, I felt as though I should be the one to deliver some relevant information. The others you see here merely tagged along."

Hork quirked an eyebrow before running his gaze over Zog, Uthug and the Hybrid standing before him, the Musket-wielder visibly shriveling under the gaze as the captive before him backed up instinctively. But then the Warchief's eyes were drawn back to that source of music, still faintly surrounding the Poet.

"You," he muttered while turning to the scrawny lyricist "how are you doing that?"

"Oh that's just Borgu's Semblie thingie." Zog mentioned without hesitation "Ain't it just the grandest?!"

Hork blinked at that "A semblance?"

Borgu scratched his head sheepishly with a grin "Yeah, at first I assumed it was just my musical talent finally manifesting itself on a much grander scale, but now-"

"Dreamer," Hork said suddenly "Have you perhaps planned this?"

The other Warchief looked around for a moment before giving a confused look "What?"

The massive Uruk turned on him "Having support for your little theory come at such a time seems far too convenient for my tastes. Tell me, did you intend on convincing me with these lies?"

"Oh don't you start with more of that," Ishga stepped forward "we had no idea they were coming. This is just a coincidence, and even if it weren't then explain how that Uruk is currently producing music if my master's words were faulty!"

"Tugog has aligned himself with those of a mischievous sort before, there are any number of reasons for that."

Tuka watched on as the Uruk Captains continued arguing with one another, he momentarily cast a glare at Zog and Borgu who were in the midst of telling a still disbelieving Maku of their exploits whilst occasionally slipping into song. Then he glanced to an oddly guilty looking Dharg, then to an annoyed Executioner who was echoing the angers of his master.

"Tuka... Tuka!" Uthug whispered to him in a panicked manner "Your plan is crashing and burning, do something!"

"Thought you wanted it to fail?" the Berserker pointed out "Prove a point or something."

"I wanted you to get comeuppance for that shrakh! I never wanted to die with you, which if ya hadn't noticed, seems extremely likely right now!"

"This is still salvageable." Tuka muttered before grinning "Still got Zog."

He nodded to the large defender still in the midst of recollecting, but suddenly the Singer paused as an idea struck him "Oi, you guys think I could come along too?" he asked Maku.

The Hunter gave a him a critical look "Hm, you good with music?"

"Completely devoted to the sound o' song."

"Eh, sounds good enough." the Warmonger shrugged

Uthug could practically feel Tuka's jaw falling through the floor like a cannonball.

"Oh this is gonna be so much fun, mate!" Borgu slapped his larger companion on the shoulder as the music became more light-hearted "I haven't performed for the Shaman in a right long time."

"Think I'll get a fancy position if I gives him a good show?" the Singer asked excitedly as he tossed the wrapped up body to Tuka's feet and began tapping his shield to the ground in anticipation.

The Musket-Wielder watched as Tuka recovered and placed a hand to his chin in thought as he glanced down at the wrapped up lump at his feet "Heh, ya know if I wasn't positive they weren't doing this out of spite I might actually have felt proud of them. But I can still work with this."

Uthug gestured violently around them towards the increasingly hazardous situation they were in "HOW?!"

"See, this is why nobody checks for your input." The Berserker stated before gesturing to Hork, who was still vehemently arguing with Tugog and his supporters "Just check, my plan is still going perfectly. Zog and Borgu may've been able to weasel their way out of Hork's wrath, but luckily for us it seems Dreamer and his were easily able to take their place."

"But he thinks we're in cahoots with them!"

"Easily dispelled by the body, besides Tugog is a much more natural target for the big guy's rage given their history. Just stand back and watch this." Tuka gave a small smirk before reaching down and hauling the lump up with both arms.

"Hork of the Black Gate!"

The voice made Hork pause in his angry spouting to turn from Ishga and Tugog and glare at the Berserker "Don't you have somewhere to hide before me and my men use your bones for decorations?!"

"Though you may not believe me, Warchief. I came here with the intentions of informing of your brother's fate."

"His fate is to die to his own stomach!" The Warchief grunted out before folding his arms "He chose it the second he began giving into Bubol's words and filling himself to the brim with no end. He lost any possible fate of worth."

"Despite how right you may be, I'm afraid he perished in battle."

Though the Garrison forces began murmuring amongst each other and even Tugog and his Underlings began exchanging glances, Hork still seemed completely unconvinced and he struggled to repress a snort of laughter.

"Perish in battle? You and me must be thinking of different Ashgarns because my youngest brother is no soldier. He doesn't have the spine to die for his beliefs because the only belief he has is that the next meal is right around the corner." the Warchief paused to lower his arms and tighten his hands into fists "He would run if he found his life in jeopardy, just like he ran from responsibility every single damned time Bubol waved a leg of meat in front of him and said 'abandon your station!'"

Tuka swallowed and tightened his grip, but he was committed to see his plan through to the end.

"Ran away from the tower, ran away from his elder! Ran away from responsibility like the inert coward he is. So if you expect me to believe he had the gall to let himself get killed-!"

It was at this moment the wrappings in Tuka's hand tore, his tight grip having inadvertently led to his nails clawing into the fabrics.

Before them all Ashgarn spilled out face-first right before Hork, the rotting hole was clearly visible to the now-stunned Warchief.

The effect was instantaneous, Hork's words died in his throat while his forces silenced themselves. Pigug the Executioner standing firm despite the mollified look which grew on Dharg's face as he stood beside him. Tugog raised a hand to his mouth while Ishga just turned his gaze to Hork's frozen form.

Tuka had been trying to wait until the Warchief had finished his rant, hoping for a more opportune time to reveal his ace in the hole. Thinking fast, he rolled with it and folded his hands behind his back with the torn fabric still clutched in them "I'm sorry to say that I wasn't lying sir, but know that the Culprit is not a mystery. In fact she's-"

"Ash?"

He paused as Hork uttered a word in the midst of his proposal, finally taking a closer look at the Warchief and finding that the Black Gate Defender's look of untapped annoyance had been completely replaced with one of morbid disbelief.

As he watched, Hork stepped forward and took a knee beside Ashgarn's body and immediately began shaking it "Hey... Hey you fat bastard, you's just screwing around, eh? B-Bubol put you up to this, eh?"

"Sir?" Dharg asked as Hork's shaking became more frantic.

"Come on you-you ain't gonna just die like that... right!?" the Gatekeeper jammed both of his large hands under his younger brother's body and easily rolled him over, the sight of the large hole in the unmoving Uruk's head making his entire body go still.

"The hell is happening?" Ishga muttered as he took a step back, not used to... whatever THIS was. He immediately turned to his master for answers, but the Dreamer simply glanced down at him before holding a finger to his own lips and quietly demanding him to be quiet.

"You- You're not dead, this is just a bid for food right!? Get up and say something you arse, I've figured you out!" Hork growled before standing up and prodding at the corpse with his boot "Come on! Come on! Get the shrakh up already damn you!"

Tuka watched as Hork's prodding shifted to kicking, and he silently hoped that if Ashgarn was somehow still alive that the glutton had enough decency to be comatose. A sudden hand on his shoulder brought his attention back to Uthug who hid behind him partially, stricken by the same horror the larger Uruk had been able to suppress.

"Please," the Shorter Uruk begged quietly "tell me this is part of the plan!"

"I mean..." Tuka began, losing his words as he was distracted by the mortified look infecting the Warchief's often military expression "I expected him to be upset but this... I don't... I've never seen him do this before!"

"Well do something about it!"

This voice came from his other shoulder, and he turned to find the Faunus captive also shifting behind him as much as possible "H-he's going to kill me along with you two idiots, s-so do something!"

"Ballsy of ya to start ordering me around." the Berserker muttered

"Any other time I'd agree with you on that," Uthug interrupted before leaning closer as Hork's kicking grew more frantic and brutal "but do something about THAT first!"

Tuka released the torn wrappings and shrugged the Musket-Wielder off him.

The Black Gate Defender's heavy boot sank into the body's flesh over and over. He paused mid swing once he realized there was still no response, grimace tightening as he once more dropped to his knees. This time he gripped Ashgarn's collar and yanked him up before sending his fist smashing against his brother's skull.

Even some of the spectators winced at the breaking sound which came from fist meeting flesh, many still watching in astonishment as Hork pulled Ashgarn closer to glare down at him. Even as blood began seeping from where Hork had just knocked several teeth loose, the Warchief still seemed adamant in finding a way to wake his brother up.

"Come on!" he growled before rearing back and cracking Ashgarn in the jaw once more "Damn it Ash, you wake the hell up right this instant! I will beat you to a gory pulp if you don't so help me-!"

"He's dead." Tuka interjected

The external voice seemed to snap Hork from his frenzy, and suddenly his hand opened, allowing his gluttonous brother's body to flop down onto the floor again.

Hork was still for a moment, before turning his head to look at those who'd been watching him. From his own soldiers to Dreamer's Reds, his gaze momentarily slowing when he reached the knowing gaze on Tugog's face.

"The ones who murdered him were a team of young girls, possibly huntresses." Tuka continued.

Slowly, Hork's gaze traveled to him, the Gatekeeper's face seemed locked in a state of distant surprise.

"A blonde one with gauntlets, a red one with a scythe, a dark Faunus with some sort of whip blade amalgamation, and finally the murderer herself: a white themed girl with a rapier."

As he spoke, the Warchief slowly stood up from the ground without taking his gaze off the Berserker before him.

"Perhaps this may help with bringing justice for-Hrk!"

Tuka's words were cut off once a massive hand launched forward and took hold of his throat.

Hork's face still held that distant look of shock, though even while struggling in his grasp Tuka could spot his expression twitching and jerking in several places.

"Believe me when I say that justice will be delivered." Hork uttered through his teeth, the rage becoming more palpable in his words as his shock melted back into fury "The nerve of someone to slay my- the kin of a Warchief, is something which must be thoroughly punished. However..."

Hork raised Tuka to his face and grumbled "The Nerve of someone to interrupt me... must also be punished."

"What?!" Ishga, Uthug, Tugog and even Pigug managed to shout at once.

Tuka wondered briefly when exactly his plan had gone awry, before suddenly feeling himself moving as Hork carried him closer and closer to the tower's edge.

"Sir," Pigug raised his hand as he watched "despite him being a cocky little runt who no doubt should be put in his place, I must inform you that he has supplied us with notably useful information. I'd take a thorn-covered whip to him immediately upon your command, but I can't find logical reason behind this course of action."

"That sounds like quite the thought, Executioner." Hork noted before walking onto one of the many catwalks lined around the tower and raising his leg "I suppose we'll have to evaluate this incident afterwards, hm? After I watch this bug I found splatter his guts and entrails all over the roofs of the slums."

With that his foot shot forward and kicked off the rails, sending them sailing down to the Shanties below. Soon Tuka found his feet hovering over the open air about to follow them. The Berserker's hands immediately clung to the arm holding him up.

"Master," Ishga turned to the Dreamer "I don't understand!"

"I honestly never thought I'd see him like this again." Tugog commented simply as he watched his old friend turn to glance to the warrior and slave who had accompanied the Uruk in his grasp.

"Ah," Hork released a breath as he glared at them as well "those two... nobody requires them. I suppose I'll have 'em sewn together."

"W-Sir?!" Pigug tilted his head to the side.

"Then I could pull them apart and sew 'em right back together until one dies." Hork shrugged "Wonder how much of the dead one I can stuff in the live one before they stop moving too."

Tugog narrowed his eyes at this, it sounded even worst than back then.

"I ain't gonna get sewn to no wench!" Uthug shouted, though even his constant rage found trouble staying afloat when confronted with something he downright knew he wouldn't be able to weasel out of at this point. The Faunus beside him seemed too stunned by the proclamations to even breath at this point.

"Master, I know you are dealing with trying times." Pigug actually stepped forward from his fellow Garrison soldiers and raised a finger "But this is not you, the Master I know has what many know as _thought_ placed in his decisions. This... there is no sense to this reaction at all."

"No sense... no sense!?" Hork turned from Tuka to him "This fleeing little cur walks into my structure, prancing along amongst my soldiers with his filthy little friends and you find this response to make no sense?"

"Well-" the Executioner began only for the Gatekeeper to continue

"And then he dumps my slain kin right before me trying to worm his way into our ranks using his death as a stepping stone... IS THERE STILL NO SENSE!?"

Despite the lack of oxygen, Tuka was faintly aware of a strange sound which grew in volume as Hork's rage mounted. It sounded oddly like rocks sliding along each other. He wasn't the only who heard this apparently, as several of the Uruks closer to the edge of the tower began glancing towards the source, whatever it was.

"But he has information, at the very least-" Pigug began, also trying to focus on his master instead of the source of that sound.

"No!" Hork barked before pointing to the unfortunate Uruk in his hand "I- I don't want to spend anymore time than necessary with this whelp."

With that he turned back to Tuka with his fingers opening, but once he took a cursory glance down the Warchief's face went from enraged to dumbfounded as he immediately jerked back. This small little tug gave Tuka enough room to land on the edge of the catwalk once he slid from the Warchief's gasp. As Hork stumbled back in shock, the rock sound stopped, and Tuka coughed whilst massaging his throat before glancing to the source and pausing.

Right beneath the catwalk, the sandy stones of the tower had shifted drastically, stretching away from the wall and forming a bed of stone spikes right where he would've fallen had Hork actually dropped him.

Tuka slowly rose as his coughing continued, the bruises left on his throat aching terribly as he crawled away from the spike-laden end he'd nearly suffered.

"What is that?" Hork grunted as he steadied himself and glanced around as Tuka took that moment to crawl out of the danger zone "What happened? Who-? Where did that come fr-?"

His eyes glanced to his feet and his words immediately faded away as he watched the dark aura which seemed to be travelling through the cracks in the ground from him. It was... like his own dark aura had spread to the ground beneath him without his knowledge of it. Hork was confused, but only until Tugog decided to speak up.

"I wasn't lying."

Hork looked to him for a moment, the surprise immediately draining away as he realized what exactly this was. Soon his frown gained more of a disappointed look as the Warchief finally gave a dejected sigh.

"Heh, so your semblance is like a some kinda building thing?" Maku commented from the side as he realized they'd just broken through the Gatekeeper's previous stalwart denials.

As the Hunter chuckled, Hork turned to his own forces "Then... does that mean you-?"

"Yes." Pigug nodded, several of the other Garrison forces including a reluctant Dharg followed suit.

"Seems fitting, I guess." Maku continued as he stepped away from Zog and Borgu to look at the result of Hork's riled emotions, leaning over the still baffled Gatekeeper with a grin "You are the master of fortresses and whatnot. Try denying it now big guy, I dare ya! I double dare-!"

Hork's response was cracking Maku in the jaw with his fist, sending the hunter sailing back before tumbling to the ground and growling from being caught off-guard.

The Warchief turned and hauled Ashgarn onto his shoulder, then proceeded to wordlessly walk back to the Garrison HQ. He paused once he passed Tugog, grimacing at the Dreamer before muttering a quiet apology and walking off.

He gestured for the garrison forces to follow, and soon they did after taking a moment to recover from whatever it was they'd just witnessed. Of course, it was Pigug who followed first, with Dharg hurrying to catch up once he shook himself from his shocked state.

Tugog watched as Hork's forces departed into their section of the tower, the Gate Defender pausing to whisper something to Pigug before disappearing inside as well. The Dreamer glanced to Ishga, who still gave him a questioning look, before turning to Maku.

The Warmonger spewed forth several curses as he got to his feet and massaged his face, the new bruise becoming visible where his war paint had been smudged away by the Warchief's blow.

"You alright there lad?" Borgu asked as he and Zog approached the Hunter "Took a right nasty one to the noggin' you did. Seemed like-"

"Shut up." Maku hissed through gritted teeth before gesturing to the elevator "Just get on, I'll get a Dreamer Gate whipped up. Send you two off to the Shaman."

Uthug watched as Borgu absolutely shuddered with giddiness, still unable to believe the lucky break the little annoyance had come across. At his side he noticed Tuka stumble back over, still coughing and trying to massage the pain from his recently traumatized neck.

"Well, it would seem this be the end of our journies mates!" Borgu called over to them as he hopped onto the platform and waved "Just know that as long as ya got ya'selves some music in mind, we'll always be together in some manner."

"That does literally nothing but enrage me further." the Musket-wielder stated as Zog and Maku joined the Poet on the Platform "What about you, big guy? Really just gonna lump yourself with this git? Risk going before the Stormbringer himself?"

"I have's to try it, it's a sure way to move up in the world!" Zog insisted before gesturing behind the warrior "As a token o' thanks you can have the tark, I ain't gonna be needin' her where I'm goin'! Heheh."

"What?" the Faunus yelled before immediately eyeing Uthug and Tuka "You're just going to hand me off to these two?"

"She makes a great comfort snack, Tuka. Always more relaxing knowin' she's near for a bite if the going's tough."

"Wait, why are you giving her to him specifically?" Uthug said in an insulted manner.

"Because..." Tuka took a second to massage his throat again before grunting out "you suck with responsibility. She'd either die prematurely... escape... or get nabbed by some other glob before you could even do something with her."

The warrior looked like he wanted to argue, but he honestly could not come up with a retort for the Berserker.

"So what makes the axe guy any better?!" the Captive asked

"Oi," Maku growled "Last time I checked property don't get no right to whine. Might wanna' have her tongue removed first. Just a suggestion."

Before the White Fang grunt could go mouthing off about that, the Warmonger turned back to the Uruk operating the Elevator's lever "Can we get going already?"

The Operator just shrugged before gripping the lever and pulling it.

As the platform began lowering, something seemed to strike Zog, who turned to Maku as they began descending "Hey, almost forgot but I got's me a delivery to make. Think we could take a slight detour before we go about the whole making a gate thing?"

And with that the three disappeared from Uthug's view, and he hoped from his life.

So it was just him, Tuka and the Tark. He supposed he'd gotten his wish, with the two music Uruks gone he now had far quieter prospects in his future. Though he'd have to start working on getting rid of these other two. Tuka's near suicidal plan nearly had all of them decorating the blades of the Garrison, and he didn't want to think of what hell they would've face if Hork's rage hadn't prompted his semblance.

He glared at the Berserker "Well then, seems your plan failed miserably, eh?"

Tuka paused in his throat massage to look down at Uthug before grinning "What madness are you talking about, my plan worked perfectly."

Both the Faunus and the Warrior seemed to disagree "Excuse me?" they asked simultaneously.

"Why, I mean-" Tuka swallowed and paused for a moment before folding his arms "Yeah, I had the entire situation planned out like this."

"Bullshit!" The Captive muttered "That massive asshole was dangling you by your throat!"

"Aw, the hybrid thinks its smart enough to comprehend my strategy." Tuka patted her on the head before she stepped away with a pissed expression "Obviously I was in no real danger. My semblance allows me to teleport you sods."

"Okay, pause." Uthug held out a hand "So you're telling me that you knew trying to speak to Hork whilst he was reeling from his brother's death would trigger him to try tossing you off the tower. And not only did you know you could escape, but that one of his own subordinates would drive him further until he would discover his semblance which would give you the perfect chance to escape whilst also causing him to overlook killing you? Really? You knew that would happen?!"

"This is why I'm the smart one here."

"That's bullshit," the Faunus reiterated "literally every bit of that was bullshit."

"I hate agreeing with pinkskins," Uthug admitted "but that _was_ a load a shrakh right there. I bet you was just so terrified of the big guy you forgot you COULD pull that teleporting malarkey."

"If you wish to stay pessimistic be my guest," Tuka waved him off "Now help me find a good ledge to toss this tark off of."

"What!?" She shouted before nodding to Uthug "I thought he was the one who's bad with responsibility."

"He _is_ bad with responsibility, but I just don't wanna' deal with ya!" Tuka hissed, "I gotta focus on getting into the-"

"You two."

Tuka was interrupted, glancing to the side only to come face to face with Pigug the Executioner and two Garrison soldiers. The Berserker immediately stood tall and shook his head before giving a confused "What?"

"You two have just been recruited."

"I'm sorry, what?" Uthug stammered "Both of us?"

"It's what you were aiming for wasn't it?" the Garrison Captain asked before giving a small hum of thought "My Master decided to _reward_ you for bringing us such... important information."

"What was with that suspiciously long pause?" Uthug pointed out just before being shoved aside by Tuka

"Ignore him, we'd be happy to except such a gracious offer."

"What!?" Uthug and the Faunus once more called out simultaneously.

"Shut up," Tuka whispered back to them "this was our goal!"

"You knew this would happen?!" Uthug couldn't even fathom how anyone could predict _this_ turn of events.

"O-of course I did. Don't doubt the plan damn it."

Pigug seemed satisfied with that, and turned to the Garrison soldiers "Grab their slave for 'em." He said before walking around them and wrapping an arm around either Uruk "We'll have to give a proper welcome to the Uruks who could put our Master in... such a state."

"Hey, watch it watch it!" the Faunus cried out as she was hoisted off her feet for what must've been the umpteenth time over the past week or so.

Uthug's eyes widened a bit as he realized what exactly this was. He already had his suspicions, but these guys weren't even trying to hide it.

"Maybe I ain't Garrison material." the Musket-Wielder said suddenly before pulling his hood down a little more, "I mean, Tuka's the Uruk with the plan and all so-"

He froze when the Executioner glared at him through the slits in his helmet, burning blue irises swimming in pools of red bored holes into the back of his skull as the Garrison Captain gave a snort "You saying you want to refuse such a generous offer? Now that ain't very gracious of you."

"N-now I ain't saying that." Uthug insisted as he felt the armored arm tighten around him "Just saying that maybe you'd want more of a sturdy type, eh?"

Pigug paused at that, his red and blue eyes scanning the warrior until Uthug saw the face inside split into an unfitting smile "Don't worry, maggot. We Defenders of the Black Gate know perfectly well how to break whelps down and mold them into solid walls. We can fix you."

"See?" Tuka said from Pigug's other side "All part of the plan."

As the Executioner and his Uruks dragged all of them closer to the now overbearing doors of the Garrison HQ, Uthug realized two things.

One was that Tuka's plan was utter and complete shrakh, and two was that that specific shrakh had just led them directly into the den of a beast.

A beast they'd already infuriated past the point of no return.

* * *

 **A Cave Somewhere...**

Collapsing once she'd finished climbing her way out of the pit, Yang released a tired breath as Krosh walked past her and peered down into the little Arena she'd been fighting in for the past few days.

He gave a low whistle as he looked over the dozens of Uruk-Hai she'd been stuck fighting for the better half of three hours. She wasn't so sure if his desire to please that Shaman guy they keep talking about outweighed his desire to see her struggle. She could only wail on dudes with makeshift weaponry for so long, and these Storm guys seemed in no short supply of them. The more he saw she could take on, the more he'd pit her against next time. As much as she hated admitting it, even she had a limit, and with how long these beat downs were taking she'd feel this soreness even during the tournament.

Thinking of the no-doubt trying battle tomorrow she groaned, prompting Krosh to glance at her "Heh, you did good today lady. Show this kind of durability tomorrow and you might just inspire a little modicum of pride in me."

"The name's... Yang..." She panted as she slowly rose with a frown

"Still not using it," He said with a short laugh before turning and immediately spotting a familiar approaching figure "Hey, Oggie! What are you doing here? If you haven't noticed your boys aren't exactly allowed to sneak off from class and watch my little champion here anymore so-"

"Oh they left for the other one this time." Ogthrak stated as he came to a stop before them and folded his arms

At that Krosh quirked an eyebrow "Other one?"

"Yeah, some worm ran in saying they spotted Bubol trying to break into Mince's cell so they all ran off to watch that whole confrontation."

Krosh looked away for a moment and actually had to take a calming breath before grumbling "Og, I swear I'm going to end up killing him."

"Shaman would never allow it, still finds the sick freak entertaining for some reason." the Larger Warmonger shrugged "Besides, you and I both know hurting him in any way would just please him."

Yang watched as her captor actually looked down and pondered for a moment before smirking "Guess I'll just have to hurt something else." he said before stepping past him "Probably do it in front of him too, wonder if getting blue-balled like that has any kind of negative effect. Hey Oggie, go lock up Lady for me while I test this little theory of mine."

As he walked off, Ogthrak turned back to glance at Yang who looked him over "Well, you don't have a class anymore sooo..."

The Warmonger sighed "Let's just get this over with."

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

They walked in silence at first, Yang trying to get a feel for the new Uruk escorting her and him not caring. Whenever she was outside her cell she'd often have either Krosh or fighting to focus on, and now she found neither.

Ogthrak is what the others called him, he's supposed to be a Warmonger like Krosh. Yang had seen them interact several times over the course of this captivity, and she could honestly say that so far he was the more tolerable of the two.

Whenever she'd tried talking with Krosh in hopes of weeding out useful information, he'd turn on that high-quality shit-talking and try annoying her to the highest of degrees. Maybe... just maybe with this one...

Turning to try striking up a conversation, Yang paused as she spotted Ogthrak tapping away at a Scroll in his hands. She'd been soo wrapped up in thought that she didn't even notice him take it out. It was a bit surreal, watching an orcish creature like him work a Scroll with surprising adeptness.

It was even more surreal when he pulled a pair of headphones from his pocket and went to plug them in.

"You uh... really know how to use that thing huh?" she tried not getting distracted by the sight

Ogthrak paused before he could plug them in, he glanced down at Yang before shrugging "Shaman wanted me to know how to use these things, so I did. Now I teach the boys what I know."

Already this was far more informative than eighty percent of her talks with Krosh.

"Your boys?" she asked casually, glancing at their surroundings despite having walked this path quite a few times now "You mean that class thing?"

"Class thing..." Ogthrak grumbled at the term "Everybody here's calling it that. I like to remember it as simple ol' training, just with a different kinda weapon."

Yang couldn't keep her eyes from narrowing at that, he was definitely talking about the CCT. She didn't expect them to be master hackers or anything, but the knowledge that they'd find themselves more and more comfortable in exploring such a multifaceted thing like the CCT was worrying. As much as she wanted to question what exactly they were doing with it, she suspected further questioning it would make her prying all the more obvious.

"Why did your boss want _you_ specifically to teach them that?"

"Because, next to Ratlug, I'm the most adaptable Captain we got here." he said without hesitation

Yang wasn't so sure about that "You? Not to question your capabilities or anything but Krosh already speaks exactly like a human while you..." she trailed off.

"No see," Ogthrak paused to raise a finger "Krosh is skilled at _pretending_ to be adaptable."

He then turned that finger on himself "I'd learn almost anything if the Grand Shaman told me too, and I'd do so with vigor." he then turned and continued walking "And, unlike that Swordsmith, I'm probably the most devoted Captain in the Storm."

"Oh, so you hold this Shaman guy in high regards then?"

Yang already knew the answer, no matter how differently these Storm guys were in personalities or opinions there had been this common consensus that this Grand Shaman of theirs was on a whole other level. He'd been one of Yang's primary concerns, as despite hearing lots of random things about the Storm-Leader, she'd never actually seen him. The way his soldiers spoke of him he was practically a nigh-unstoppable killing machine, and despite the obvious bias in their description it had led her to wonder more about him.

"High regard doesn't even come close." Ogthrak insisted "The Shaman's strongest, second only to the Dark Lord himself."

There'd been plenty of talk about him as well. But unlike the Shaman, Yang was positive their Dark Lord was still in their own realm.

"Is that why you work for him?" she asked

Oghtrak paused before looking at her with a smirk "I'm a simple Uruk, welp. I like to keep things as simple as possible. Ratlug and his spawn are stuck with the Shaman 'cause not many else would forgive his transgression, the other Warmonger has this whole complicated emotional shrakh keeping him here. I'm here simply because I show proper respect and obedience to those with more power."

He pushed open a door, leading to a familiar hall of cells. After ushering her in and closing the door behind them, Ogthrak continued "An Uruk don't get much more powerful than the Shaman."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yep, I'll never forget the day I first met him. See I was actually a loyal defender to a strong Overlord who ruled over a distant land, with shield in hand I'd push back any who dared defy his strength. I used to think he was the strongest Uruk because I had watched him capture a drake using tactics and forethought that was beyond a simple shield-barer like me."

"Oh, so you use a shield?"

"Don't interrupt me, girlie." Ogthrak bit back before facing ahead and continuing "Anyway, Shaman arrived asking for some resources we'd recently discovered in a nearby mountain. Coincidentally, some idiots accidentally released the Drake my former Master had carefully and thoughtfully captured several days ago. But before the Overlord could even mount a defensive strategy against the rampaging beast, the Shaman scaled his tower and leaped onto the drake before killing it with his bare hands and riding its broken body into the ground like the unstoppable force he is."

Ogthrak glanced up and gave a wistful sigh at the pleasant memory before regaining his composure and glancing to Yang "Overlord was humiliated, so much so he immediately cast the Shaman out of his fortress. But I knew power, even without the display the way the Shaman carried himself simply spoke volumes of his sheer capability. I didn't even hesitate to abandon my old Master's land and beg the Shaman to allow me to serve. He didn't see anything interesting in me, just a uniformed Defender like any other disposable grunt. And so I promised him that as long as I served under him I would find ways to stay entertaining in his eyes."

The Warmonger raised his chain wrapped forearms and flexed his hands, looking them over with a smirk "Would you believe it if I told you I learned how to knit with these hands? That I've performed surgeries, learned several foreign methods of communication and even wrote plays with these hands?"

"Eh, honestly no but you seem unusually sure of it so-"

"Well I did." He insisted as they came to a stop in front of her cell door "I've put myself through trials other Uruks could only dream of in order to keep the favor of someone as... selective as the leader of the Storm. In the time I've been here I already know how to operate enough of your gizmos to truly keep the Shaman interested, and as someone who is undeniably knowledgeable its my duty as his servant to keep his other underlings as well informed as possible. That... is why I am a Trainer. Now get in."

Seconds later Yang was listening to the locks of her door click shut as she thought over the Warmonger's words.

Due to Krosh's perfect representation of a modern douchebag with a slight accent, she had assumed until now that he was the most adaptable Uruk she'd met so far. But then along comes 'Oggie', as he's often called, saying that compared to him Krosh is just a pretender. Apparently he's already learned enough about their world to accurately teach it to other Storm soldiers. She couldn't confirm or deny anything these guys said, she'd known this for a while now. But even so the sheer devotion to his own words seemed convincing enough, not that it helps her get any closer to escaping before that Tournament they plan on tossing her in.

She walked deeper into her cell and gave her customary greeting to Mulgrim the Camera Wiz, who locked his tired eyes on her almost immediately as she sat across from him and pondered while leaning back against the hard cave wall. Ratlug's towel was still wrapped around the Camera Guy's wound, but the black bloodstains forming on it informed her that the 'Doctor' had done next to nothing to actually fix it. For all intents and purposes she'd been stuck here watching a wounded Uruk struggle not to show just how badly this untreated bullet wound was affecting him. Eyes twitching and facial muscles occasionally jerking, it was obvious the bullet wound concealed by the towel had not even come close to healing properly. Hell, the wet towel could actually be doing more harm than good.

But she had to give it to the little guy, he was tanking through the pain like a champ. Really she should be more surprised he came back with all of his limbs attached after a trip to the Doc-

Wait!

Another few of Ogthrak's words came to mind as she looked over the result of one of the doctor's treatments. He'd said that out of all of them, Ratlug was apparently the most adaptable one. But how? The Warmonger had stated he'd dived deeply into a plethora of talents in order to appease his master, learning everything from composition to knitting to satisfy the Shaman. Ratlug has consistently shown nowhere near that level of dedication. A fondness for cutting things up and engineering, if Krosh's words were anything to go by. He also seems to be deluded into thinking he's a licensed doctor, but only seems to help patients through more chopping or wet towels!

How was he the most adaptable thing they had?!

* * *

 **Beacon Academy**

Just one more day, just one more day...

Ruby went over the notes she had again and again as she made her way to the Student Workshop, eager to check up on Crescent Rose in preparation for tomorrow.

Tomorrow would be the day that Ruby and her teammates would head off to help Ironwood's army take down the Uruk-Hai Tournament. They'd joined Team CFVY in sitting in on the briefings that'd been held to go over the General's plan. As expected their assistance would be minimal if everything went accordingly, something the Chaperone chosen for them felt the need to remind them of consistently.

Despite her teammates telling her to expect opposition to their involvement, and especially Weiss' insistence that many Atlesian specialists were trained to be strict, she still couldn't help but wonder why Coco and her guys got the obviously easier chaperone.

Maxwell Ivor Rebon seemed annoyed with them the moment they met, and for the next few days he'd go on to try sniffing out any way to get them unapproved for the mission.

Thankfully due to forethought, they were more than ready for the unprecedented amount of work he began issuing. He'd criticized their fighting styles while reviewing combat training and had them redo stances the entire first day while finding issues with their 'posturing' and 'footwork', that just so coincidentally had them in the training room until nightfall.

Things just got worst once he began demanding they look up and review random historical military movements and conflicts from the past and write pages about them. She'd understand if they were actions similar to the ones they'd seen during the briefings, but she confirmed that most didn't have anything to do with the mission they were going to undertake.

Meanwhile, the Chaperone for the active members of Team CFVY would just have them go over their parts of the plan... and that was it!

Oddly enough Rebon did a complete one-eighty today, sitting through the final briefing all silent and grumpy. Then when it was over, they'd expected yet another overbearing task to be thrown their way, but instead he just immediately left with no fanfare. Blake had surmised that he'd just given up on finding issues with their performance given how close they were to the mission's date.

Without one of his terrible tasks to fulfill, it'd given the girls time they hadn't anticipated. While Weiss and Blake decided to use that time to relax after spending so much time dealing with their chaperone, Ruby finally had the chance to give Crescent Rose a good and proper tune up.

She hadn't used her weapon since the fight with Bubol, and had only given it a passing once-over before her outing with Weiss and Blake. Now that she was taking it up against what was potentially an entire Arena full of guys? You know she was ready and willing to give her loyal weapon some hardcore prep and pampering. No dealing with Maxwell, no interruptions, just her and her lovely making magic in a workshop for what she hoped to be hours on end.

The Student Workshop was big, not as big as the training room but definitely enough for it not to feel crowded except for certain days. Usually when missions were going to be handed out more students would wind up here, and with the tournament drawing nearer Ruby knew that this room would get more and more cramped.

Thankfully she came at a good day, most of the tables were empty and the students there were spread out enough for her to find a mostly deserted corner just begging to be relaxed at. The only other student there just so happened to be-

"Coco?"

The leader of Team CFVY seemed to be in the middle of some deep thinking, as she was staring at the box on the table before her wordlessly. Ruby's comment made her tilt her head up, apparently having not expected any company.

"Oh, hey Ruby." she greeted as her signature smile returned and she turned in her chair to wave as the younger girl approached "What's up?"

"Just looking to get Crescent Rose in tippy top shape for tomorrow." Ruby raised her folded up weapon for emphasis before nodding towards the table next to her "Do you..?"

"Heh, take a seat kid." Coco waved off the question with a smile and turned back to her work "Having some Pals around is good for almost any situation."

Ruby smiled, unfolded Crescent Rose and got to work, casting several glances at the older student as she tried thinking up something to strike up a conversation with. Despite how unflappable Coco seemed, Ruby knew for a fact that the Fashionista couldn't be taking the capture of her teammate well. After dealing with her own Teammates' interpersonal issues for so long, Ruby was just confident in herself to try and help her fellow team leader through this-

"He's always been a hard ass you know."

And then Coco beat her to the punch.

"What?" Ruby glanced at her as she brushed at several of Crescent Rose's pieces, keeping the older student in her peripheral vision.

"Rebon?" the Fashionista pointed out with a casual gesture "Our Chaperone says he does that with all knew recruits, so don't take it personal."

Ruby blinked before pouting and setting the pieces of her weapon down "I know, I'm trying. But even if he is just like that, I still don't understand why our Chaperone's so bloodthirsty while yours is... ya know?"

"Hey, Riley may not look it but she's also looking for a reason to keep us from going." Coco laughed before setting her sights back on her work "Their both Atlas Specialists, kid. Yours is just more on the nose than ours is."

"But even then!" Ruby put her elbow on the table and rested her head in her palm "I only got lucky to have time to do this while you guys never seem to worry about stressing out over your-"

She was about to gesture to the broken box before Coco when a detail immediately derailed her previous line of thought.

"That's not your weapon."

The older student looked up at this before smiling and shrugging as she looked at the two halves of the box and camera before her "It's Vel's. Both of our weapons got pretty messed up but mine was actually quite easy to fix. My delightful death-bringer used to get clogged all the time when I first built it, just kept letting random things get in it, so I'm actually more comfortable fixing that then I'd like to admit."

Ruby gave a hum at that before taking a closer look at Velvet's broken camera "Wow, they... they really messed it up."

"Yes, but don't worry kid. I helped Vel make this in the first place so putting it back together? Really the only problem were the pieces, lots of em ain't exactly the type of thing you can just borrow from a classmate or teacher." she said before sighing and leaning back in her chair "Took a few days to get all the parts required, but now that I have them, sticking them together should be simple."

"You... you made Velvet's camera?"

" _Helped_ her." Coco emphasized before tapping a finger to her lower lip "But yeah, I had to teach her a lot, she wasn't really a weapon savvy girl like I am. You know she'd originally planned on just using her hands and feet instead of an actual weapon. Now I'm not saying her moves aren't good, they're actually pretty cool, but with a weapon it'd be better. And I was right on the money, she looks much better with this baby at her side."

"I'll bet!" Ruby agreed before frowning and tilting her head a bit "But what exactly does it... do? Not trying to pry but 't I really haven't seen her use it much."

"That's to be expected," the other Team Leader said before raining one half of the camera and looking it over "This thing copies weapons based off pictures. Velvet loves camerawork, so I thought it'd be perfect for her if she could kill stuff with it."

Coco lowered it and began the painstaking task of scavenging what she could from the broken little camera.

"Yeah, I noticed her taking lots of pictures around school. Does that mean she's got all of our weapons in there?"

"She did, until this." Coco turned to regard her with a smirk before leaning her cheek into her own palm and staring down at it for a moment with a sigh.

Seeing the often confident girl go silent made Ruby pause in her own workings to state "I'm sure the both of you fought as hard you could!"

"We did, oh believe me we did. But I saw her... saw her hesitate at times during the fight. She... might not've been ready."

"What? Ready to go stopping random crimes? To be a huntress?"

"No, not ready to fight humanoids."

That gave Ruby pause, and once more she found herself tilting her head to the side as she waited for the older student to elaborate.

"You don't get it kid, Velvet's a damn good fighter. She could probably be one of the best and I know it! On missions you should see her, beating down massive Grimm left and right with this steely focus some could only imagine. She always did want to be a Hero, fighting off monsters and protecting the weak and all. You know?"

"Yeah," the red head looked down for a moment "I can relate."

Coco smiled at this before turning back to the broken camera and letting the smile drop "But put her in front of people and she used to just crumble to pieces. Had a rough time with people as a kid you know? Couldn't handle socializing much. Against Grimm she'd tear through 'em like paper, but we couldn't even get her to train with us!"

The Fashionista leaned back in her chair before looking up at the ceiling "It would have to be good old childhood trauma to make one of your strongest fighters cower in the face of someone like Cardin and his pals. But lo and behold turns out cowering was just the tip of the iceberg. After some prying I find out those guys were screwing around with her more than I'd expected."

Coco gave a defeated shrug "Honestly at the time I wanted to blame her for it, stupid as it sounds. I was supposed to be the Team Socialite, the people person, and yet a pretty obvious case of bullying goes on under my nose for that long? I thought it was impossible. Yeah, I was kinda up my own ass a lot back then. Didn't know about the whole past trauma thing, but eventually I decided to put a hold on the bitchy pettiness and make it up to her."

"By becoming gal pals?" Ruby asked, having given up pretenses of working on her weapon to listen to the Fashionista, who smiled at that term.

"You shoulda seen her when we first really started hanging out, she was positively terrified of me." Coco recounted while checking a piece of the broken camera almost casually "I think it was about then that I realized just how much of a serious case she was. Started taking the gloves off... began the long and careful process of watering and caring for that flower, then watching her grow... into a badass forty story tree that beats up monsters."

"That sounds so awesome." Ruby noted in awe.

"I know right?" Coco gave a small laugh "Yeah, I thought that with how good she's been doing then scoping out a place would be no problem. I mean, we train together like a stalwart team nowadays and she's mostly fine! But then I saw that those guys weren't technically Human or Faunus. It was almost like the perfect logical step between Grimm and people."

"I'm not really sure how well the Uruks can be compared to regular people." the silver eyed girl glanced away in thought for a moment "I mean, they aren't like Grimm. They definitely look like monsters, but the way they act is just..."

"True." the Senior Student noted before looking at the pieces of the camera for a moment then placing both of her arms on the table and tapping her fingers against it "But now she's in the hands of those things..."

Ruby watched as Coco dipped back into silent pondering for a moment before simply shrugging and returning to her work with a sadder smile.

"But I can't worry myself into the ground over it, ya know? For her sake. I need to be strong, for her if nothing else. I have to believe that she's going to be okay when I find her, that they aren't... that she'll be able to bounce back from this."

Team CFVY's leader did pause for a moment just to sigh.

"I just hope she's hanging in there."

* * *

 **Desert Tower**

How long had it been?

Probably just a few days. Honestly, Velvet didn't really know. She'd been staring at the same half a room for so long she'd almost wish Skak would hit her or something just to break up the monotony. She shouldn't be this bored, despite not being able to move much, considering how active Skak was. The Uruk almost seemed to suffer from the boredom more than she did. Going from training to staring at her then to arguing with his weapon. Oh god the arguing.

Velvet never knew how talkative a lifeless weapon could be until she'd had the misfortune of coming across Skak, but the Uruk would get dragged into a one-sided conversation with it almost every thirteen minutes. Sure there were minor break-ups to this routine, most prevalent being feedings and the like. They were all pretty equally humiliating. Skak seemed determined not to let her out of the chair, and so when her captors did have in mind to feed her he'd just stuff some of that broth down her throat.

She'd tried telling him she could do it on her own, but a few prompts from the Blood-Axe would apparently convince Skak it was better this way. So he'd pry open her mouth and dump large quantities of the meaty sludge down her throat at a time. Velvet dare not spill any, as he had no problem scraping any fallen scraps off her subdued form and shoveling them back in until not a single smidge was left.

These 'meals' weren't even filling, seems she wasn't worth spending more resources on. These meals were far and few, only about two a day and nowhere near large enough to constitute as a an actual meal. She figured they were just feeding her enough to keep her from starving to death.

No doubt when they finally remove these bindings tomorrow she'd find a notable amount of weight lost, what with how painfully hungry she was all the time now.

She knew she shouldn't be complaining, due to her hearing she could easily hear the cries and whimpers of other slaves who moved past her cell occasionally. She heard the shouts of Uruks and the wince inducing sounds of weapons impacting against unprotected backs. She never once before would consider her situation lucky, but if she was among those out there...

Well, it'd all be over tomorrow either way. Velvet didn't know what kind of things these Orcs were planning on making her fight tomorrow, but the strain she felt from the consistent binding and the poor nutrition left her seriously doubting she'd have the strength they expected of her. She didn't have her weapon, had none of her teammates there to support her, had nothing but hunger and taunts to go off of.

Yes, the Rabbit Faunus was convinced that there'd be no way for her to match the expectations of her captors, whether or not she'd lose her life because of that was slowly becoming more and more of a pressing question.

"Well you got's to control ya'self! Ain't got no reason to shout like that. What if one of the bosses hears you raisin' hell?"

They obviously treated their slaves like garbage, would she end up out there being beaten regularly and working herself raw after this fight? Would they even reward her in some manner if she managed to come out on top? She doubted it.

"Then take a few breaths and relax before you start spoutin' shrakh mate, loud mouths bring more globs to the choppin' block than treachery."

Velvet had to accept the very likely possibility that she'd die before she'd ever... ever get to see her teammates again... ever see Co-

"And there you go with the shouting again!" Shrakh stood from his seat and growled to his weapon which lay upon it "Why is it that you always start shouting when you's know you in the wrong!?"

The raise of his voice disrupted Velvets thoughts for what must've been the hundredth time at this point, and Velvet could not stop herself from shifting to glare at him.

Skak Blood-Axe is what he was called, and he was the sole reason she could find no moments of solace or rest in her confinement. His arguing with that weapon dragged on throughout the night, bantering on and on without even a hint that the lack of sleep was doing a thing to him, keeping her painfully awake as the lunatic jumped from one-sided conversation to one-sided conversation. No matter how laughable the trait of speaking with a lifeless yet threatening-looking weapon was, Velvet had no doubt that spending this much time in the midst of this unending banter would drive anyone to madness.

And he just... kept... going.

She was so tired, so hungry and so remorseful for her own sorry state. And this... this madman couldn't even allow her time to think.

"Why?"

Skak paused mid-argument to look at her.

"Why do you talk with it?" She asked wearily as her eyes shifted to the Blood-Axe "It-...It won't speak back... It's just an axe so why... Why?!"

The Uruk just chuckled as he grabbed the Axe in question and looked it over. He stepped in front of Velvet and squatted down until they were at Eye-level then raised his Blood-Axe next to his face.

"You ain't alone lass, lots o' me mates try asking the same thing." He admitted before leaning closer "But I assure's ya that Blood-Axe can talk. Talks up a storm too I tell's ya. I get that he only speaks to me, can't blame all o' you for not having the ears for it. Gotta speak for him when he wants to talk to others, truly a pain in the arse he is. But he's my boy, my lad, can't just abandon him in good conscious now could I?"

"You're delusional S-Skak..." Velvet whispered to him "It's not really talking... It can't!"

"Oh but he is!" the Uruk insisted before gripping the weapon in both hands "In fact..."

Skak raised Blood-Axe closer before pressing the weapon's thick handle to the bindings on Velvet's legs. Skak raised one hand to the skull of his weapon and pressed down.

Velvet was about to question what exactly he was doing, until she winced as the Weapon's handle slipped into the bindings and caused them to cut off circulation to her legs from how tight it was.

Once Skak was sure his 'friend' was secured, he stepped away, leaving the Blood-Axe staring directly at her with its blade just inches away from her.

"Right now, Blood-Axe is getting antsy again." the Uruk stated as he began walking around her "Don't really know why we ain't cuttin' you up right now, he says you's useless as a combatant and would make a better meal than a fighter."

"Well... maybe if you guys would actually feed me." Velvet began before swallowing dryly and scowling at her captor "Actually helped me get ready for this... the fight tomorrow."

"Now see, I think ya got a point there. My bosses don't like's the idea of giving up too much food or havin' you outta them ropes for too long." Skak admitted before pointing down to the weapon between her legs "But Blood-Axe, ya see, he says you weren't fighter material even before we nabbed ya. Says we shoulda cut ya up and taken your friend to fight for us instead. That way he gets to soak up ya blood and we still have one o' you huntresses fightin for us."

Velvet was about to retort, before pausing and looking down as her ears drooped a bit "Sorry to disappoint him."

"Yeah, I may not've thought too much about it. But we both saw you's hesitating several times while fighting. Now he says that your pal wasn't hesitating nearly enough, that she was the real warrior there whilst you was just faking like some hopeful little sod."

The Faunus didn't want to have this conversation anymore "I've been doing good... she was helping me get better."

"Riding her coattails then?"

"W-No!" Velvet began before thinking on the wording and grimacing "She was just being generous, helping me be a hero."

"Blood-Axe says he ain't know that being a Hero means shriveling and shrinking when lives are on the line."

"But I've improved!" Velvet shouted back "I've-I mean I know I can't compare to my team but... I've gotten so much better with their help."

"Team? Never knew anyone would care so much for their image they'd pretend to put up with something as pitiful as you."

The Huntress-In-Training actually found her expression pulling itself into a scowl "They do care! They want me to be better, I know it!"

"Looks like you fell for their lies as well! Ha! Guess you ain't got enough brains to know when others are treating you like garbage after all."

"Shut up!" Velvet bit "You don't know anything! If you think they're lying to me then you're wrong! So so very wrong! And when they get me out of here then-!"

"What!? What exactly are you gonna do you sniveling little runt?!"

"I'm gonna show you just how wrong you are!" Velvet shouted before taking several deep breaths, her anger abating once she heard the clapping.

She blinked away some of the tears she didn't know she'd began shedding, and glanced towards the sound only to find Skak leaning against a wall and applauding her.

Her eyebrows furrowing in confusion, her eyes traveled back in front of her to stare into the vacant eyes of the Blood-Axe.

At some point in their argument, she'd begun yelling directly to the weapon instead of Skak... When did that happen?

"Told ya he talks like a right bastard, don't he?" Skak laughed before walking over and pulling the Blood-Axe from her bindings. The ropes finally gave her numbed legs some much needed room. Nowhere near enough for her to wiggle free but enough for her to begin feeling them again.

"I think that deserves a chug o' grog!" Skak laughed to himself before setting down his weapon and grabbing a mug from his table "Not everyday someone besides me gets to hear this bastard's rambles."

"Wha-? No Wait!" Velvet tried talking him down when suddenly the mug was shoved against her mouth and the foul smelling liquor was streaming down her throat. Almost immediately her insides felt as if they were on fire, and she coughed once her captor pulled the now half-empty mug away. Skak laughed as Velvet coughed violently, the disgusting smell of grog sizzling her nostrils with every heavy breath she took.

"Always funny seein' you weaker folk try and stomach an Uruk's preferred drink." The Axe-Wielder commented as he kneeled to get a better look as the Faunus tried and failed to hack up the disgusting concoction. As if to taunt her further, Skak knocked back a few steady chugs to finish off the rest of the grog before tossing the mug aside and walking back to his chair "Just a reminder how much kick the brewers like puttin' in it. Not as strong as the stuff we made back in Mordor, but damn if it can't knock ya on your arse. Heheh."

Velvet focused on getting her breathing back under control, a numbing feeling already coursing into her head. She tried turning to glare at Skak, but she was worn out, and she just wanted him to be quiet enough to sleep.

Alas-

"No I ain't wastin' it!" Skak bit towards his weapon, who seemed to have no small amount of problems with his usage of their grog "This was what those braniac lads would call an experiment. Or, in our case, guess you could call it... an AXE-periment."

The sheer power of that terribly forced pun did nothing but reek havoc upon Velvet's sleep-deprived brain along with the grog, and it seemed she wasn't the only one in disagreement with the buff Uruk's little quip. For despite laughing at his own horrible sense of humor, Skak paused and looked to his weapon again before frowning.

"That one was good lad, don't pretend it wasn't." he said before scooping up his weapon and poking at it with his free hand "Gonna have to use that one later."

Velvet could practically feel her own body seeking unconsciousness, but the loud one-sided banter kept dragging her back to the realm of the wake. She just wanted to forget the horrible grog, the deluded Uruk and the moment she almost got dragged into his delusion.

But it was then that she noticed something, something that gave her pause and turn to look at the Uruk. He was still arguing loudly... but it almost seemed somewhat muted. It wasn't as loud as before. Velvet's eyes widened a bit.

"Well you try getting a tark to stand still long enough to get a good enough drink you-"

"Was... that it?"

Skak paused to turn towards the Faunus, who gave him a weak but challenging smirk before smacking her lips "That stuff's pretty much water."

The Uruk tilted his head to the side before narrowing his eyes "Lass, you mind repeatin' that?"

"I mean, if that's what you so called Mighty Uruk guys call alcohol... well... to each their own."

She watched as his expression turned into a deep frown, and he leaned beside her "Really now?"

Skak glanced to the side as he leaned Blood-Axe against his ear and listened before waving it off "Sorry Mate, when an Uruk's drink is threatened-"

"-he feels more than obliged to defend it."

...

...

...

...

...

"Skak?"

...

"Skak you better open this door! Tarz is already setting up the Gate, grab the prisoner and come on!"

...

Ishga grumbled a bit and muttered angrily as he searched for his key ring, pausing only when his nostrils picked up the scent of Grog which seemed to be emanating from inside. Soon the door swung in and the Blood-Storm prepared a verbal lashing for his meatier colleague which immediately died in his throat once he saw the horrific state the cell was in.

There were empty mugs littering the ground, several cracked. The table had ended up on its side at some point with the Blood-Axe stuck in its side, the wielder of said weapon giving occasional mutters in his sleep as he slumped against the overturned piece of furniture. Right at his feet was Velvet, whose chair had tipped over sometime in the night with one of its sides broken from the impact. This broken side also meant that her bindings were almost criminally slack, which would've been a problem for the Uruks if she didn't seem even more unconscious than Skak was... in fact she barely seemed to be moving.

Ishga leaped into action immediately, rolling Velvet out of the tangle of ropes and chair onto her back. He leaned down to her, his frown stiffening until he heard her breathe. He gave a sigh of relief and a groan of annoyance before immediately letting her flop back on the grown.

The Hunter then turned to glare at his sleeping companion, who seemed the epitome of peaceful slumber until a brutal backhand sent him headfirst into one of the overturned table's legs. It splintered on impact and jolted Skak out of his sleep. He scrambled to his feet, stumbling a bit, before trying to steady himself on the broken table leg only to find it wasn't there anymore and collide with the ground again.

"What... did you do!?" Ishga demanded as he pointed down towards the unconscious Faunus and watched the warrior get back to his feet.

Skak seemed about to answer until he glanced to his weapon, still stuck in the table, and smiled "Blood-Axe says *Yawn* this idiot got into a drinking competition with the-" he seemed to realize his imaginary friend was ratting him out too late and tried biting his tongue to no avail.

"You- you what!?" And just when Ishga figured Skak could find no other ways to disappoint him, oh if his elder could see them now.

"Now listen Ish, this ain't my fault." the bruiser began

"I would just _love_ to hear what asinine way you could spin this... where this isn't your fault."

"See, she was talkin' garbage about our Grog after I gave her a taste. And so I had her drink another mug's worth to see if she still could deny our recipes."

"Oh dear lord."

"So one thing led to another and the next thing I know we's having a good drinking game to see who better could handle their liquor."

Ishga was now trying not to resemble a fish as he struggled to properly shape the torrent of rage seething within his lungs into actual words.

"After that I admit I may have drank a bit too much, even after she conceded and whatnot. Think we might've sang a song together? Everything after that get's kinda foggy."

Skak stopped trying to remember what happened when he felt to balled fists press against his chest, and he looked down to see Ishga just barely able to squeeze out incoherent fragment of pure malice. Skak tilted his head to the side as his partner pulled away and began stomping around the room aimlessly while spewing forth random syllables he was currently incapable of using correctly.

Finally Ishga stopped directly across the room from him and turned back to face the larger Uruk before exasperatedly gesturing towards the window "SHE FIGHTS... TODAY!"

Skak simply stood there and blinked whilst Ishga gestured to Velvet "AND YOU! YOU! DRINK HER UNSCONSCIOUS WITH LORD KNOWS HOW MUCH GROG!? WHERE DID YOU EVEN GET THAT MUCH!? I THOUGHT THE GARRISON WAS RATIONING IT!"

The Axe-wielder glanced to the sides for a moment before shrugging with a smile "Ish, you know that there ain't a place in any realm one could hide a nice stiff drink from me."

Ishga lunged towards him, grabbed ahold of his ears and jerked him down before pressing their foreheads together and growling "You only had to watch her for one more day!"

Skak wasted no time in slipping out of his partner's grasp and placing his hands on his hips "So I might'a gone a bit far with the drinking, so what? If the Warchief saw her fighting then it's gonna happen prior-drinking or not. Far as I see we's still in the clear."

"I can't tell if you're doing this on purpose... or not!" Ishga seethed

"Doing what?" Skak asked before glancing to his weapon and frowning "No, I ain't deflecting blame."

"Yes you are!" Ishga threw his hands out in an exasperated manner "Why on earth would you sabotage-?!"

"Sabotage what?"

Ishga froze mid rant and jerked his head to the side to immediately wince at the sight of Tugog standing in the doorway taking in the view of the room.

"Master!" Ishga exclaimed before standing straight and trying to make it look like this horrid scene was in fact nothing major "We -ahem- we were just readying the tark for transport. S-Skak dropped her chair."

Tugog's eyes traveled from their unconscious fighter to the overturned table, then to several of the discarded and empty mugs, then wrinkled his nose as he smelt the overabundance of grog in the air.

"Okay." the Warchief said simply before turning and leaving.

Ishga and Skak stared at the now-empty doorway for a moment, the smaller of the two deflating a bit after finally allowing himself to breath somewhat steadily. Ishga turned to Skak, who just shrugged and smiled. Ishga saw red.

He shoved Skak out of the way before turning and sending his boot sailing directly into Velvet's side. The Faunus immediately coughed and rolled on her side as her hands immediately went to her head which began to pound. Before she could even begin to try forming a gasp of pain from the rude awakening, she felt a hard grip on her head pulling her off the floor.

She could barely see due to the blur which seemed smudged across her vision, things were hard to get into focus. That didn't matter, because she could tell it was Ishga who was now face to face with her. It'd be hard not to recognize him, they were almost touching.

"You're gonna fight." The Uruk growled out before shoving her to Skak, who managed to hold her up with one arm as the other freed Blood-Axe from the table and hooked it back on his belt.

"You're gonna win." Ishga continued as he walked out with Skak and her in tow

"You _will_ impress the master."

* * *

 **A Cave Somewhere...**

"So today's the day, huh?" Ratlug asked while glancing back to the two following behind him "Gonna get embroiled in some Chiefless Hijinks, eh?"

"Just walk, old man." Krosh muttered from Yang's side

Today was the big day indeed, the day Yang would finally get her gauntlets back and get tossed into that Slaver guy's arena. She'd tried concocting more escape plans while she waited, but she knew that at this point she was mostly riding on the hope that whoever this Ishmol guy was, he kept his security far more lax than the Storm did. If he didn't know much about the slaves who were supposed to be fighting, then perhaps he wouldn't have as many counters as Krosh and his pals did.

But first, she'd need her gauntlets back. When Krosh had come to collect her, she'd questioned why Ratlug was with them until it had been explained to her.

"Why is it that you gave him my gauntlets?" Yang leaned over to ask her captor

Krosh grumbled before folding his arms "I didn't want him to go touching those damn things, honest." the Warmonger said before sighing and giving a defeated shrug "But lo and behold he goes whining to the Shaman, and the boss let's him have them."

"For research of course!" the fake doctor pointed out before clapping his hands together "Originally thought about makin' a whole line of gunlets for the boys. Gunlets, heheh, came up with that one me self I did. Anyway, got bored with that idea and just copied down the loading mechanism. Slapping a line o' shells right in there seems too convenient to pass up on, but maybe I'll find a more interesting way to use em."

Yang grimaced at the idea of dozens of white and blue Uruks running around firing half-assed replicas of her weapons, "So, where were you keeping them all this time anyway?"

"The Lab!"

Yang quirked an eye "Lab?"

"It's really just a workshop," Krosh pointed out "Shaman gave an entire workshop to him and his lackeys."

"Nope, its a lab." Ratlug stated with conviction "I am a Doctor, so obviously I must have a lab where I may do my research."

"Wait," Yang interrupted "I thought you were pretending to be a _medical_ doctor."

"Who's pretending?" Ratlug questioned cheekily before pointing to the ID which still clung to his lab coat, the image on it still very much not his "Says right here, I'm registered and all."

He laughed at the blonde's silliness before coming to a stop at a nondescript door and tugging it open.

Once Yang entered the 'Lab' she had to do a double take.

Not because of the several other Uruks that were attempting to assemble several greatly varied projects at some out-of-place office desks pushed off to the side, not because of the large desk in the center where her precious Ember Celica laid with one of the gauntlets gutted with its innards spewed out over the table, not even because of the makeshift board hanging to the side which had a crude drawing of her weapons on it. None of those things could stun her more than what clung to what seemed to be the entire ceiling of this workshop place.

It seemed like a jumbled mess of wooden and metal pieces all stuck together with a series of wire thin rails and tubes thrown almost haphazardly into the mix. Everything from little slides of plastic to gears of steel all clambered together in an unholy mass of random attachments.

The Uruks paid it no mind, at least until Krosh noted her pause "What's wrong with you? Come on, we need to get you suited up for-"

"I see your captivated by my little pass time." Ratlug said with no small hint of pride as he walked over to the table Ember Celica was sat upon "Its your irst time seeing it so I can understand, lass."

"Uh-huh." Yang nodded, her eyes still unable to tear itself from- was that the upper half of a grand piano over there?

Ratlug chuckled a bit in self-satisfaction before reclining in a torn up recliner placed near the table and picked up a surprisingly worn looking screwdriver "Wanna see it in action?"

That got Yang's attention, and Krosh's annoyance.

"No. Not wasting time so you could get even more full of yourself." the Warmonger pointed to the semi-dismantled gauntlet "I thought you said they were ready?"

"Pssh, well now I have ta play it, if you have such an issue with it. I work better with it on anyway." the Swordsmith gave an amused sigh before turning and calling to one of the other busy Uruks "Oi, somebody get the crank turning! I'm workin' here!"

The Uruks paused at their stations and turned to one another, after a brief argument one was coerced into stepping away from his desk towards the far wall. Yang hadn't noticed a small hand crank attached to it. The Uruk grabbed hold of the crank and began turning it with steady heavy motions.

She waited for a second as he cranked, about to ask what he was doing when the sounds began. Above she could here the various implements of the ceiling mass begin to slowly turn. Before her eyes the motions began spreading across the entire mass until the previously haunting stillness of the mass was replaced with almost frenzied movements everywhere.

Krosh groaned before turning and making for the door, and Yang almost wished to go with him simply because of how loud and enthralling the sight was. The entire ceiling was coated in this, well... machine for lack of a better term for it. And seeing every individual piece of it moving at once was... incredibly distracting.

But then the tune began.

From some piece of the mass a surprisingly simple tune began emanating forth, what she had confirmed to be a section of a grand piano was immediately identified as the source. But it didn't end there, the same cords attached to the innards of the Grand piano were also attached to yet another seemingly random object which soon added its own sound. This process began repeating itself as that simple tune became a seemingly unending symphony of machinery.

"Ratlug... dude, what is this?"

The Swordsmith smirked as he pulled the semi-dissected Ember Celica closer to him "Like I said, a pass time! Started out as one o' these little tune box thingies I found, when I get bored I build a few more things into it and it just kept getting bigger. Had to mine out some more space because it was covering so much. Nowhere near my finest work of course but it's kind of like a calendar to me since I know when and where each piece was added."

"This... this is a music box?!" Yang asked, turning to face him only to pause once again.

"Well it don't really look like a box anymore now does it?" Ratlug snorted in laughter...

... as his hands seemingly reassembled her weapon automatically without him even looking at them.

In time with the tune no less, one hand grabbed a piece and positioned it whole the other grabbed the tools necessary for each motion.

"My boy never did have an ear for tunes, but they just help me work faster if I do say so myself. Besides, the Shaman likes it. He'd sometimes come by and just listen to it for hours on end, so I'd say it was worth assembling solely for that."

Yang was trying to keep track of both his words and his hands at the same time, which soon proved impossible. As if he'd done it hundreds of times, the gauntlets were soon fully reassembled and the Uruk tossed each to her. In fact, after fumbling to catch them, Yang realized they almost looked brand new.

"If we ever do move to a different location, I do wish to bring it with me." Ratlug continued speaking as he stood from his chair and turned to gaze at the sprawling contraption with fondness "Maybe its just me getting sentimental and whatnot. Wonder how I'd move it?"

As he turned to look at another section of ceiling with a pondering expression, Yang glanced to him for a moment before quickly slipping Ember Celica back where it belonged.

"I mean we have the Dreamer Gates, but just moving the damn thing would be tricky for anyone. Even if we-"

Just as Yang cocked her gauntlet, Ratlug simply turned around and raised an eyebrow at her as she fired.

But nothing came out.

Yang blinked, she'd checked and found full shells in there. Was it jammed?

"Ah, sure enough straight to the point, hm?" Ratlug questioned before reaching into his tattered coat and drawing forth a single small button and gesturing towards it with his free hand "I put a safety lock in ya weapons to keep you from blastin' away and wastin' ammo."

Yang straightened, then raised one hand in front of her to look at her weapon for a second "You... put a lock in it?"

"Yep, control it with this here thingie. Almost put a light on it that turns red and green, but then I realized I wouldn't really need it."

Yang lowered her gauntlet and stared at the Uruk for a moment before asking "How?"

The Swordsmith snorted before pocketing the button and waving his hand casually "Oh, just took a bunch of safety locks from other guns and worked the designs into yours, then all I needed was a transmitter from a-"

"No, I mean... how did you build all of this?" Yang gestured around them, arms especially indicating the still-running ceiling music contraption "How? Didn't you guys come from some kinda fairy-tale land where most of our stuff never even existed?! That thing up there looks as if an entire team of engineers spent months making it. And you say that was just a past time? A past time, really?"

"Sorry if you dumb little brain squirm and all, but really as long as ya know where each thing goes, there ain't no problem." Ratlug chuckled "Sure, my semblance makes lot's of the learning part easy. But I'll have you know that if you pink-skinned saps knew even a pinch of the-"

"Are you guys done in there?" Krosh shouted from outside "Shaman's waiting, come on!"

Ratlug lowered his hands and gave Yang a once over before smirking "Yes, laddie boy. Your little champion just had a little bit of a headache. Seems my work was too complex for the deary."

Yang narrowed her eyes but kept quiet as the False Doctor gestured towards the Uruk on the crank, who was sweating a bit from the exertion of keeping the whole contraption running for so long. He nodded before leaving the crank to return to his previous project, and Ratlug soon ushered the captive huntress out of his workshop as the contraption's tune began dying down behind them.

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

It was the same factory floor, with the same pit she'd fought in several times before. The slaves were gone and the assembly lines had gone still, the only activity was a familiar Warmonger leaning against a wall several yards away from the pit. Ogthrak didn't seem to notice them yet, his attention seemed focused downward for some reason. Beside him on the wall was an intricate looking ritual circle thingy drawn in some blue liquids.

The Uruk seemed to be expecting bad weather, as evidenced by his attire. In addition to a combat vest she'd never seen him wear before, he also sported a heavy looking raincoat that looked as though it was designed to handle the harshest of rains. She could see that his forearms seemed to be bulging inside the thing, evidence that he still might have his heavy chain arm wraps on and simply wore the coat over them. Yang wasn't a complete fashion nut like some of her schoolmates were, she just knew how to look good for obvious reasons. But one did not need the clothing knowledge of an Adel to note that those bulges looked uncomfortable and almost comical as hell.

As she drew closer with Ratlug and Krosh flanking her sides, Ogthrak spotted them and leaned down to whisper something to a bundle of cloth at his side. When the bundle moved in response to this, Yang realized it was actually a hooded Uruk covered in tattered robes.

Before she could raise an eyebrow at this, Ratlug pushed past her and placed his hands on his hips as he looked over the blue drawing "Ah, I truly can't wait to get a good look at Ishmol's little arena."

Krosh immediately took issue with that "Wait," he said before glancing to Ogthrak and nodding towards his elder "Why is he coming?"

Before the larger Warmonger could respond, the Swordsmith leaned towards his spawn and grinned before nodding to Yang "Why, to see my work in action of course." he said before leaning back and shrugging "Besides, you forget that I have an entry. An entry who I'd simply love to see tear yours apart limb from limb."

Yang could feel the vehement refusal that Krosh seemed to be building up, but instead he glanced to the robed figure who seemed to be rising to his feet "Boss?" he asked after swallowing what could've been nerves.

 _Boss?_

Yang turned to regard the robed Uruk more closely. This was the Grand Shaman she'd heard oh so much about?

As he rose to full height, Yang could easily tell the Storm's ruler was just a little shorter than Krosh was. From the ways she'd heard the Storm talk of their leader, she'd almost expected some giant, heavily armored warlord coated in the blood of his enemies. But from what she knew so far that was more of their Dark Lord's thing. But still, despite not being able to see any of his actual features, Yang hadn't expected... well... this...

With her past experiences she wasn't about to make the mistake of being less defensive just because the Shaman wasn't some war god sculpted out of tankflesh. The way he seemed to immediately inspire respect and fear in the trash-talking Krosh alone being more than enough to prove he probably lived up to at least _some_ of the outrageous tales told of him.

Once on his feet, the Shaman walked past Ogthrak and turned to face the circular pattern. Yang spotted something strapped to his back, but it was covered in wrappings as well. She could only assume it was his weapon, as it did have visible handles jutting out in two places.

"He comes..." the Shaman spoke in what might have but the most garbled voice she'd ever heard, coupled with the excess amount of breath he put into it she nearly missed his words "... we wait."

Krosh bit back a curse as his father gave him a mocking thumbs up and pranced over to his master's side. The Shaman paid the Swordsmith little attention as he crouched down and resumed waiting.

They stood in silence for some more time, waiting for something. It gave Yang the much needed time to try and figure out what the blue circle patterns were about. She wasn't too deep into the occult, which this simply reeked of, but she'd seen enough movies to know that this... this looked like some kind of messed up ritual. Despite their leader being known as a Grand Shaman, she'd not seen much in the way of any kind of spiritualism present among these guys. Their beliefs seemed to boil down to: The Dark Lord is infallible, the Shaman's unstoppable, All other races besides theirs are inferior, and killing their own is a way of removing the weak.

From the Shaman's tattered robe get-up, she'd almost expected him to start preaching the Gospel of Superiority the moment he opened his mouth. But aside from some noticeably heavy breathing, he resembled a simple bundle of cloth once more.

Ogthrak seemed to follow his master's example and resume his quiet waiting, but Ratlug and Krosh?

They began arguing again.

She didn't even know how it started this time. Had they picked up from where they left off about whose entry would come out on top? They seemed to be arguing once more about Ratlug's continued insistence that a stolen doctor's lab coat was enough to legitimize himself. Then they moved on to how much Krosh despised the facial similarities they shared, then to the Elder badmouthing his son for surviving in the first place after being abandoned, on and on finding knew ways to downplay each other.

Yang was positive that if she spent too much time listening to these two she'd end up throwing punches safety-lock or not.

Thankfully, two other voices managed to distract her from the parent-child war taking place. On the other side of the room, two Uruks entered from an adjacent passage. One was obviously Mulgrim the Camera Guy while the other was-

"Oh, this is so exciting!" Bubol sauntered beside the Storm Soldier as his pustule covered lips stretched into a grotesque smile "I've been away from the other Chiefless for so long!"

-a complete pain in her ass.

The Diseased Uruk raised a hand to his chin and picked at a boil there in thought "Wonder how they've been without me there to... _tend_ to them."

Mulgrim placed a fist to his own mouth and coughed to cover up his gag, but suddenly his fake cough turned into a real one as his other hand rubbed at the towel still wrapped around his throat wound.

The Sick Archer took note of this, tilting his head to the side before stepping in front of him and giving a lecherous little laugh "You know, you could have me take a crack at that little problem of yours. Me and open wounds have a _very_ intimate relationship."

Yang winced, glancing to Krosh who wore a similar expression of disgust.

"Ugh," she heard Ratlug scoff "can't wait to be rid of this cretin"

That made her turn to him "You guys are getting rid of him?"

"My spawn's terrible wording coupled with the Master's personal enjoyment of this diseased rodent's antics has allowed him to leech off of us for the duration of your time here." the Swordsmith said before giving a small laugh "But after this bout even the Shaman wants him back with his own Chiefless kind. It'll be grand!"

The Huntress in training had to question the Shaman's definition of entertainment, but was more concerned about the hoops he was making his underlings jump through in the name of it.

Bubol finally took note of them, giving Mulgrim some much needed space as the Archer turned to wave at them "Blondie! You ready to get nice and personal with some other slaves?"

"Despite the lack of sunlight, nutrition, or healthy living conditions?" Yang gave herself a once over "I think I'm more than fine."

"Oh quit your whining." Krosh gave a shook his head and shrugged "Not our fault that humans have shit staying power."

The Brawler knew from experience that trying to argue that point would just end up annoying her, so instead she turned her attention elsewhere. Thankfully, Mulgrim leaned on a nearby assembly line to rub at the towel around his throat some more.

"Hey there Grimmie," she greeted him "how are you holding up?"

Even if the Camera Uruk wanted to respond, he had to pause and try to rub at his wound some more as he squeezed his eyes shut from what must've been pain.

"...you really need to see a Doctor."

"Nonsense!" of course Ratlug took issue with that assertion and gestured to the wounded underling "He's got one o' my patented wet towels, he's right as rain."

Again, Yang knew only more annoyance would stem from arguing that idea.

Bubol paused suddenly and immediately took a whiff of the air before letting his smile grow wider "Hn? Is that Pug I smell?"

He sniffed a bit more before his gaze was drawn to the crouched Shaman, he looked over the bundle of clothing for a moment before sniffing again and confirming his own suspicion "Pug, my lad!"

The Shaman finally stood up and turned around just as Bubol took off running towards him. As the Shaman turned Yang finally managed to catch a glimpse of something within that oddly concealing hood of his, the Storm Leader's eyes were blue with white pupils. His eyes were covered again as he turned to tilt his head at the Diseased archer, who took off towards him in a fit of growing giggles.

"Oh its been so long you deadly little dumpling you, c'mere!" Bubol called out before launching himself at the Shaman with his arms wide.

A sharp and brutal snapping sound echoed throughout the room, Yang had to blink.

In a half-second, the Shaman opened his own arms and nearly crushed Bubol inside them like a bear trap.

With the boil covered Uruk trapped, he could do nothing but writhe and gag as his Aura struggled to keep him from turning to paste in the Storm-Ruler's arms.

The Shaman himself gave a calm little giggle of his own as he took in the sight of the Struggling Uruk, flexing his arms and causing Bubol's Aura to flicker dangerously before finally releasing him.

The Mad Archer flopped onto the floor in a pained heap and began coughing as he struggled to suck in the air which had been squeezed out of him. The Shaman merely turned back to Ogthrak and nodded towards the blue ritual circle.

Ogthrak pushed himself from the wall and reached into his coat, retrieving a lighter and setting fire to the blue pattern. As it was engulfed, the Shaman raised his hands and began tapping them together in anticipation as his breathing got a bit louder.

"Only you-" Bubol began with a tone of excited pain before rolling onto his hands and knees "only you could help me taste such delicious pain, my dear!"

The Shaman paid him no mind, instead giving some more of those breathy little giggles as he stood before the burning patterns.

Yang found herself leaning towards Krosh and asking "What's wrong with him?" unsure if the Storm's leader just did that out of habit or some kinda respiratory problem.

"Shut up!" Krosh hissed, not tearing his eyes from the back of the Grand Shaman "He can hear everything, don't go drawing his attention until you're in the Arena."

Before Yang could ask how exactly they were going to travel there, she was already preparing herself for another unceremonious bind and drag scenario like the one they used to bring her here, the burning blue pattern began swirling.

Portals? Really now...

The Grand Shaman wasted no time in turning around, digging his covered hands into the back of Bubol's boil-covered head and dragging him into the portal. Yang had just enough time to bite back the new round of questions she had before Krosh grabbed her arm and dragged her in behind them.

You know when you step into a pool? Or dive in? That sensation of passing into a body of water?

That was what stepping through that portal felt like, only without the whole water on the other side thing.

Instead Yang found her feet on dry ground, stumbling a bit before raising her head to observe their new surroundings.

It seemed like the rooftop of some kind of warehouse, a rusted and decrepit one at that. She couldn't see much beyond the rooftop of a taller warehouse adjacent to theirs, besides a mountaintop in the far distance.

Ogthrak pushed past her and immediately surveyed the area before glancing to Krosh, who was observing a hole which had been blasted into the side of the adjacent warehouse.

Yang winced as the overwhelming smell of saltwater forced her to seek out its source. She turned around just in time to see the portal close behind Ratlug, and the source of the saltwater became all too clear.

The Shaman sat crouched on the edge of the rooftop, beside him Bubol lay still clutching his head. Apparently the Shaman's grasp had ruptured a number of the boils there, the Archer was still giving those disgusting groans of pleasure as he tried and failed to wipe the smears of blood and pus from his head.

A gut turning sight of course, but she wasn't focused on them, because beyond the edge of the rooftop she could see miles and miles worth of ocean stretching into the distance.

"This is where Ishmol and his drunken idiots decided to set up shop?" Ratlug commented as he walked next to his master and surveyed the waters. Glancing down he found that there were sections of the building partially sunken into the encroaching waters "Hardly seems as sturdy as our own place, eh?"

"I hear the arena itself looks much nicer." Krosh pointed out before turning to Ogthrak "Well big guy, does it?"

The Larger Warmonger just rolled his eyes before Bubol pushed past him "Time to see my mates!" he called out in glee with one hand still clutching his head "What a delicious reunion I'll have!"

As the Archer disappeared inside, Ogthrak pressed two fingers to his brow in annoyance before turning to Krosh and nodding to Yang "Just grab your little Champion and come on."

Stepping inside, Yang felt she understood this place a bit more. Despite the bombshells of Ratlug's almost unprecedented engineering skill, the Shaman's sudden yet not completely derailing appearance, and the aforementioned portals these guys could whip up, she felt relieved to be offered something that wasn't as out-of-left-field or unexpected.

This place was some kind of harbor, or at least a type of loading dock. From what she'd seen, large portions had been sunken into the ocean it was situated on and the rest looked pretty worn by time. Grimm or natural disaster, same as most of the abandoned stuff lying around. At first she'd wondered why anyone would bunker down here, on the outside this place looked as if a stiff wind would send it tumbling down, but the inside was a different story entirely.

They stepped onto a catwalk overlooking a loading bay, in the center were dozens of metal benches lining a hole in the floor which resembled the one the Storm had. To this Ishmol guy's credit his arena was better by a large margin.

It was easily several times as large as the one Krosh had her training in, and instead of a basic cave floor this one seemed to have dirt covering the ground. Whether it was there naturally or something they had to drag in from outside she didn't know. The Benches and the pit took up the majority of the loading bay floor, with the seats stacked so high that they actually reached the catwalks overlooking them. Several large groups of Uruks were milling about the area around the pit, with more trickling in from various openings around the arena ranging from doorways to other holes in the walls. The doorways looked as if they led to hallways around this massive loading bay, possibly bleeding into the partially-submerged warehouse next door.

She spotted Bubol's diseased form easily, mostly because the other Chiefless were giving him a wide berth as he walked through greeting them.

Yang and the Storm Captains stood upon the highest catwalk which seemed to be accessible only from the rooftop next-door, a ladder, or one of two nearby doorways. They were the only people up there besides another group of Uruks who also seemed to be surveying the Arena.

The one leading that group was this tall Uruk in an odd helmet, beside him was a hunter who seemed to bear the Storm's paint colors. There was a red-themed Uruk with an admittedly awesome-looking Axe who seemed to be arguing with other members of their group hidden from her view by his bulky form.

The Shaman pushed past her and Krosh to stand at the front of their group as the leader of the other one approached. To her confusion, the Shaman kneeled before him. This other leader seemed to smile within his helmet at the sight of the kneeling Storm Ruler "Pugrish, good to see you in attendance." this Uruk said before giving a small laugh "I had a feeling you'd be here."

"Blood-Axe says ya don't need clairvoyance to see that he'd show." the Axe-Wielder pointed towards his weapon

"Shut up!" came a gravelly voice behind the Axe-Wielder, who turned to look back at a thin red Uruk who growled. And clutched in that thin Uruk's grasp was-

"Velvet?!"

The Rabbit looked worse for wear, her head lazily shifting up at the mention of her name. She turned towards Yang with a dazed and tired expression on her face and narrowed her gaze "Yang? What... I mean, what are you doing here?"

The Shaman raised his head and turned to look up at the head of this group and gave a small hum of thought as he looked to the Faunus girl then back to the one he was kneeling to "Tugog... same idea?"

"Well ain't this a development!"

The two groups turned towards this new voice. Standing on another catwalk was a thin Uruk with a stringy white beard who was flanked by two larger Uruks with shields.

"Now when I got word that I'd not only have the Storm, but a Warchief enterin' in this lil' battle o' mine, I knew immediately that this would be a good old bout." this new Uruk said before chuckling and folding his hands together.

"But to see that not only will we have the good Doctor's lovely additions, but two bloody huntresses as well?" Ishmol looked over the two groups and then turned to peer at the arena below.

"This is gonna be one for the records, lads!"

* * *

 **AN: Congratulations on our first chapter without a full-fledged fight scene. Don't worry there's more than enough in the next chapter to make up for it.**

 **Okay, so I was supposed to get the Arena done this chapter until I realized there was a lot of build up and pay off that needed to get followed through before then. As I saw how big this chapter got and finished planning out the structure for how the Arena plot will go I realized that merging the two would be insane at this point, there was just too much. Made sense to split them in two and deal with the entire Slave Tournament in one chapter.**

 **I impatiently await Shadow of War, which may or may not bring to me an entirely new Roster of Uruks I could use. Not sure how I'd be able to slip Olog-hai in here IF I decided to but that's a concern for later. So far the game seems like a larger version of SoM, which is the only thing I wanted from it really. I hear some say it doesn't look as good as its first trailer did, but from the plethora of content they've shown on their streams I figure that it definitely looks worth the money to me at least.**

 **Anyway, there was no single Uruk given major focus on in this chapter so I'll talk about one I never really got around to dealing with so I'll just deal with one I skipped over in the past.**

 **Namely, Ogthrak.**

 **Ogthrak was one of the many captains who was just a regular Uruk who killed me while I was trying and failing to take out the Shaman (Who is an entirely different beast altogether) he got promoted, became enraged at nearly everything and was near fanatical in speech and tone every time we crossed blades. Now this wasn't what made him memorable though. See, he started out as a Berserker when I first started fighting him. But some time after I literally decapitated him another Ogthrak with the exact same appearance, voice and strengths/weaknesses took his place only this time he was a Defender.**

 **And anyone who's played SOM will let you know that certain perks on a Defender go a lot farther than they would for a Berserker.**

 **This was something that's happened to me several times, Uruks appearing who look identical to others I've killed.** **B** **ut this wasthe second most notable one. The first being Ratlug, but he's a story for another time.**

 **As if come back from the grave intent on revenge, suddenly this nigh untouchable shield bearing bastard came charging from the hills outta nowhere every twelve minutes. I had nothing to counter him until I finally caved and overwhelmed him with a small platoon of brainwashed followers.**

 **For getting me to break one of my personal playstyle rules in order to finally kill him, Ogthrak earned a spot on the roster here.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoy, any and all criticisms positive or negative are welcomed in full so leave a review if you are so inclined to do. Like it? Hate it? Any ways you feel I could improve? Expectations for the next chapter? Follow or Favorite at your leisure and I will see you all in the next installment of The Dreamer Gate.**

 **Next Chapter: The Arena**


	10. Chapter 10: The Arena

**Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of The Rings, the Middle-Earth universe, Shadow of Mordor/War or RWBY.**

 **This work will contain moments of intense violence, dark and dirty humor, and canonical divergences.**

* * *

 **The Arena**

Dressed in tattered brown pants and a filthy-looking white dress shirt, the Arena master took off his oddly shaped leather hat to bow to the two groups before stepping past his two shield-bearers and standing between them.

"Might I say that you both look grand considerin'" Ishmol pointed out as he gave both the Shaman and Tugog once overs "Haven't heard much from either of you, how's Horkie boy doin'?"

The question was directed to the Warchief, who gavce a small sigh "He's under stress, he recently discovered that his brother was slain."

This made the Shaman's head perk up in interest.

"Oh? Wouldn't expect him to stress over something like that." Ishmol tilted his head questioningly "Is it really affectin' him that much?"

As the three conversed, Yang leaned past Krosh to try and get a better view of Velvet "Hey." she whispered towards her fellow huntress-in-training "Vel?"

The Rabbit Faunus just gave her another dazed stare, but seemed as if she was trying to come up with something to say to the blonde when-

"-but let's not get too distracted, eh?" Ishmol gave a small laugh before gesturing to his shield-bearers "Mozu here can show your girls to the holdin' areas while Tuvor shows ya boys to their seats, I still got lots of greetings to give, but we _need_ to talk some more."

With that, Ishmol walked to the edge of the catwalk before leaping to the loading bay ground floor and moving amongst the throes of Uruks.

The two Defenders approached, both of them reeking of alcohol, before giving half-assed bows "Me gonna take to cages," one said "I gonna find ya seats." said the other

Ogthrak gave them a suspicious look before turning to look at the Grand Shaman "Sir?"

"Go..." the Storm Ruler breathed out as he continued looking at Tugog and leaning forward a bit "Want... to talk?"

"Yes," the Dreamer agreed before walking past the Shaman and leading him away "there are quite a few things I believe we need to speak about."

As they walked off, Skak blinked before glancing down to Ishga "Want me ta take her-?"

"No." Ishga stated vehemently "You do not touch the slave again. Since apparently you can't even handle sitting still and watching something for a few measly days, I shall deliver her to her cell!"

Krosh merely turned a questioning gaze to Ogthrak, who merely nodded before he and Ratlug walked off to find some seats.

The smaller Warmonger sighed before turning to Mozu "So where exactly do you keep these things anyway?"

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

Mozu led them into the halls adjacent to the Loading Bay and downstairs to what must've been a basement. Krosh and Ishga kept the Huntresses in front of them, but the Alcohol soaked Defender led the group as he lumbered down the halls.

"Ugh, what is that smell?" Yang couldn't help but ask, the pungent odor finally getting on her last nerves.

"G-Grog..." Velvet pointed out quietly as she rubbed at her head

"Seriously?" the Blonde turned back to their guide "Dude, you smell like you went thirteen rounds at the seediest bar imaginable."

Mozu didn't look back, only muttering "Probably..." as he continued his lumbering

"All Ishmol's underlings are like this." Krosh said with a roll of his eyes "Its actually quite genius I guess, but the guy's pretty good at brewing. Has all the more grog dependent quite literally drinking right out of his metaphorical teat."

"Its deplorable, unsightly." Ishga commented angrily

If the Alcoholic Uruk was offended, he didn't show it.

"Oh come on," the Warmonger turned to the red-themed Uruk with a smirk "How're you gonna be lambasting this guy over here when I can smell tons of the miracle beverage on you?"

Yang had been so focused on their guide that she didn't even pick up on the smell coming from Velvet's Escort, maybe Uruks just had better noses for that sort of thing. His accusation was enough to make Ishga stutter.

"T-this is only because my idiot cohort decided to get him and our Entry completely riddled with the stuff!" he exclaimed before steadying himself and growling "I had no-"

"Wait, your boy got drunk with her?" Krosh asked as he held back a laugh

"I'd rather we don't continue this dialogue."

"Then you in luck." Mozu said as they finally came across a large room full of dozens of various cages lined up against one another, the walls of one cell being the wall for its neighbor. There was some odd, empty section of the room near the cages where a single thick metal beam stood off-center.

Mozu gestured to two empty ones next to each other, and soon each huntress was led to their respective cages. Yang took a moment to be thankful that she and the Faunus were neighbors.

Somehow this cell was even emptier than the Storm's but she supposed this could be excused since this was supposed to be much more temporary than her last cell was.

Velvet's cell was on her left side, but the one on her right seemed to contain a single shirtless Uruk who just sulked in the corner of his cage.

For Velvet, her other neighbor was a single caged Beowolf who thrashed at every wall it could as it tried to escape.

"Okay."

Yang turned around to see Krosh stretch "This is it, Lady. You gotta give us your A-game."

The brawler quirked an eyebrow "You know, you never really told me what I get if I win."

"How about I just confirm we're gonna murder the hell out've you if you lose? You focus on that and stay deadly, eh?" he winked at her before stepping back to the doorway He gave her a good old finger gun taunt, and it was then she noticed something she hadn't before.

Instead of his often bare arms, he had a set of metal bracers strapped to his wrists.

It was a small detail, but a notable one.

In the Cell next door, Ishga tried shaking Velvet some more to get that insulting dazed look from her face "Come on you damned hybrid filth!"

Velvet swallowed loudly before focusing her gaze on him "Shaking... making it worst."

The Blood-Storm scoffed before dropping her to the ground and stepping back as she pulled herself to her knees "You listen and you listen good. I was lucky the Master didn't seem to take note of your... condition, however do not expect that to be an excuse for shoddy performance."

"I... I don't even have a weapon..."

Ishga kneeled before her and tilted his head to the side "I watched you take on a crowd of trained Uruk-Hai without a damned weapon,so believe me I expect you to do the same here, Grog or not. And so help me every single failure I see out there will be another hour of torture I put you through if you have the gal... THE GAL... to lose."

With that he stood with a grumble and left.

Soon the cage doors for both were slammed shut and the Huntresses were left to their devices. The minute the Uruks were out of her sight Yang immediately to the bars connecting her cell to Velvet's and called out to the Faunus "Hey! Hey Vel!"

The Bunny-haired girl had tried blinking away more of the blur after Ishga left, but turned to the familiar voice with confusion etched into her features "Yang... what are you doing here?"

The Blonde was taken aback "What am I-? Didn't you hear? Didn't any of my Teammates catch you up to speed?"

"I... I haven't talked to any of them since they got back from your trip, I'd heard Blake helped Sun and his pals stop a Bus-Hijacking but besides that..."

"So... they're keeping busy, eh?" Yang was relieved to hear that her capture hadn't dissuaded her teammates from kicking ass and being awesome, but she still had questions "What about you? How did you wind up here?"

Velvet looked down for a moment before sighing "A bunch of Uruks, they tried robbing a train... me and Coco tried to stop them. They ended up taking me."

Yang waited before carefully asking "Is Coco..?"

"She's fine!" the Faunus insisted suddenly with a surprising amount of aggression, wincing and holding her head before groaning "They said they didn't kill her... so she's fine."

Yang looked at her fellow Huntress-In-Training for a moment before slowly nodding "Alright then." before turning and surveying their cages "So, how're we getting outta this?"

"What?"

"Obviously these guys have enough forethought to trap and keep a Beacon Student," Yang said before raising a finger and winking "But can they keep two at the same time?"

"Yang-"

"No, Vel come on! If we work together we should be able to find a way!"

"...Okay, what do you have in mind?"

Yang deflated a bit at that, then put her hands to her hips as she looked in thought. Casually she glanced over to the other side of her cage and watched her other neighbor enjoying that corner "Hey pal, you got any ideas?

He merely curled up further in his corner with a dismissive wave.

Rolling her eyes, the Blonde turned back to Velvet with a determined look "We'll find a way."

Up above, the Uruks got their seats as Ishmol stood tall on the highest catwalk and gestured "Alright then you bloodthirsty bastards! Who's ready for some brawling!?"

He leaned forward a bit and held a hand to his ear to catch the cries of approval from the audience, then gestured to one of his nearby Drunks who came over with a shoddy metal bowl. Reaching in, the Arena Master produced two slips of paper before handing them back to the drunk and yelling towards the audience once more "Seems we got a simple bout for now! A generously donated Beastie's about to bare its claws against one of the many foolish little animal people who threw their pitiful force against the mighty Uruk-Hai!"

Below the Arena, Yang watched as two of Ishmol's drunkards entered. One checked the strips of paper in his hand before gesturing to the Beowolf in the cell beside Velvet's.

So they're just picking at random?

As his partner went to stand beside the caged Grimm, the Drunk with the strips went to another cage further down on the opposite side. He went out of sight for a moment before coming back with a beaten and battered looking White Fang member clutched in his grasp.

At least, Yang thought it was a Fang member.

From what she could tell from her own interactions with the radicals, the Fang had a very specific policy when it came to dressing. Black and Grey uniforms with Grimm masks, at least for most of the lesser member's. This guy had the mask, but his upper clothing had been torn away and the black pants looked like they'd been dragged through the forest (Which was more than likely). His Shoes were gone and the only weapon he seemed to have on him was a single metal baseball bat and an oddly designed glove.

Now Yang had had her run ins with baseball bats, and knew not to underestimate their effectiveness, but she could only guess as to how effective it would be for the beaten and bruised Faunus.

She watched the drunk usher him to the odd empty space, where the roof above the metal beam promptly gave in.

Stepping forward a bit, she blinked as she realized that it hadn't broken in some way. The Metal Beam simply pulled it down until it was flush with the floor, giving the Faunus more than enough room to be shoved onto it. Soon he was raised to the Arena above, and the platform lowered again awaiting the next challenger.

The two Uruks soon equipped themselves with these two over sized collar staffs which they soon used to haul the savage Grimm out of its cage. Through careful positioning and heavy exertion, the two forced the Beowolf onto the platform and kept it held there until the platform arose. They had to keep their holds on it solid, raising their staves with it until they could safely release it just before the platform reached the Arena.

It wasn't long until the sounds of the Beowolf's howl and a blunt instrument impacting with something was drowned out by the cheers of the audience.

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

Right outside the warehouse next-door was a series of large Uruks scanning the tree-line which was a quick walk away from the structure, many of them were either drinking or staring down the woodlands or arguing about alcohol.

One such argument was interrupted by the sound of something drawing near, two of the Grog-Filled guards frowning at the sight of a smaller Uruk leading two others who were pulling a large wagon with a tarp covering it out of the woods towards the Warehouse.

"They're gonna kill us." One of the Wagon pullers muttered

"Soon as they know what we've got here, they'll find it hard not to get on their knees and start begging to serve." the one in front said with a small chuckle

"Listen, Ukbuk." the other Wagon-Puller said whilst nervously swallowing at the sight of the suspicious guards "When you pitched this to me a few weeks ago I may have gotten a bit caught up in the moment, I've been weighing options since then... Gotta say, not feeling as confident as I did back then."

Ukbuk rolled his eyes before turning to them "I worked my arse off for this, guys. Spent long times with no food or drink just to get this right. I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't know it was ready. Come on! We earned this!"

To their credit, the Wagon Pullers actually shared a glance for a moment as they drew closer to the Warehouse.

"Oi!" One of the Drunks called out "What- uh... What Cap'n you here for?"

"We haven't come with a Captain."Ukbuk stated as he stood straight before the armed Uruks

The alcohol-soaked Uruk sniffled a bit to clear his nose "You ain't here with a Cap'n? Can't let you in the Tournie unless you's come on someone's behalf."

"We didn't come for that," Ukbuk raised a hand towards the wagon "We came to bring Ishmol the Brewer-"

"Boss prefers Slave Driver."

The smaller Uruk rolled his eyes "Ishmol the Slave Driver, we came to bring him a new and improved Grog to distribute during these festivities."

One of the Wagon-Pullers leaned to his partner "Doesn't that technically mean we DID come for the Tournament?"

"Shut up," the other one whispered "he's doing a thing."

"We's already got Grog." the Drunk muttered before grinning to himself "Lot's of it."

"Perhaps, but do take a quick drink of this." Ukbuk held out a mug before reaching back to tug the tarp aside and reveal one of the barrels within.

The Guard looked him over before shrugging "Sure." and turning to another Guard said "I'mma take a sip. If I start dyin' you's needs to avenge me."

After receiving a nod of confirmation, the Guard grabbed the offered mug and had himself a drink.

Ukbuk and his two cohorts watched in anticipation as the Drunk swished the concoction in his mouth a bit before swallowing. He stood there for a moment smacking his lips, before suddenly his eyes grew wide and he quickly chugged the rest of the brew down immediately.

The other Guard looked him up and down as the Taste-Tester finished the mug and licked the residue from its edges.

Soon the mug fell to the ground as the now wide-eyed Taste-Tester turned to his fellow defender "Get the boss."

"What?"

"Get the boss! He needs to see this."

* * *

About a mile away from the Warehouses, a massive Military force was hidden amongst a relatively large field which was obscured by the large trees which surrounded it.

Dozens of Atlesian soldiers were moving to and fro, checking on a numerous amount of dropships which were fully loaded with AK-Units. A large number of massive cages were readied off to the side. Trucks, Crates, a few Techies with Computers, the whole-shebang.

And among the large force were the immediately noticeable Beacon Students who were all crowded around one woman in white and red. The woman had her hands on a terminal set up beside a crate, on its screen was a red dot moving amongst a map.

"Looks like they got in," the Woman commented with a small, casual laugh "told ya Maxie could stay quiet long enough to be stealthy."

"Quiet?" Weiss raised an eyebrow "I don't think he's even taken a breath since he got into position. Considering how... animated he's been its a little..."

"Yeah, its really creepy." Ruby said before backing away and turning to the older woman.

Atlas Specialist Riley G. Trost, Team CFVY's chaperone, with her dullish red hair and a signature casual smile almost always present, one would never expect her to be one of the Atlas Elite. Her style of speech just seemed far too forgiving and excepting for a disciplined soldier, no matter what Team CFVY said.

And yet, she still wore the standard Specialist attire, well pressed and immaculate despite not fitting her demeanor at all.

"I hate to be the one to ask this," Fox spoke up as he walked to a pile of crates nearby and leaned against one "but why didn't we just drug all the stuff that guy was bringing em? Wouldn't require all the sneaking around."

"It wouldn't catch as many fish, obviously. If what the General said is true then some of these guys could probably tell if anything was odd with their little drinks, I mean all the Guards practically live off the stuff." Coco said before taking a seat on one of the crates and reclining "Besides, we don't even know how much the sewage they put in that Grog would dilute the sleeping agent."

The mission had been gone over in excruciating detail, so much so that Ruby could practically recite the entire scenario by heart. And she could, Weiss had tested them on it before they left.

Using the Delivery of Grog Krimp's friend Ukbuk was planning on making, a very small number of stealthy soldiers would infiltrate the buildings where the tournament was taking place and would set up canisters of sleeping gas at several key locations. After regrouping they'd activate the canisters with a detonator which would ensure that all Uruks and their captives in the vicinity of the place would be taking a dirt nap for a few hours bare minimum. It would give Atlas the time it would need to swoop in full force and capture the Uruks while also grabbing those they've held prisoner. It would be simple, except-

 _"-the gas used in this mission does not affect all Uruks the same." Ironwood pointed out as he walked to and fro._

 _He stood at the front of one of Beacon's lesser-used classrooms, which had been repurposed for this very meeting._

 _"While testing it for this very task we found that it only has a seventy-four percent success rate. Some of them seem to have an immunity to it, those who do have also shown a resistance to other gas-based hazards in the past so we must assume its some trait they have in the respiratory system."_

 _"Well that's just ridiculous."_

 _Heads turned to a thin yet fit looking Specialist sitting next to Team RWBY, who had one long leg crossed over the other for the duration of the briefing. His hair was an inky blue so finely trimmed one would expect him to keep a plethora of hair products in his uniform at all times._

 _"How is it that some of these savages is resistant to aerated attacks specifically?"_

 _"From what we've gathered the ones who've developed this resistance have a long history fighting either with or against poisonous substances, their bodies have merely adapted to fighting off strange gases." The General folded his hands behind his back "However, rendering at minimum Seventy-four percent of their forces inoperable for that much time is still something that'll give us a far superior edge."_

 _He gestured to the desk, where a screen displayed a map and colored dots. Pressing at it, many of the green dots began going dark "With their strength in numbers severely crippled and the remaining portion still reeling and partially-blinded by the gas, we'll have a perfect opportunity to encircle and ensnare whoever's left."_

Which is what most of the soldiers, robots, and the two teams were for. Their chaperones had chosen to oversee both halves of the mission, with Maxwell taking the lead on infiltration while Riley led the charge once the gas started flowing.

Coco raised an oddly built mask and looked it over in the sunlight "Are you sure this little thing will keep us safe? It only covers the mouth and nose."

"Don't doubt Atlesian Tech." Riley said before pulling out her own and gesturing to it with another smile "Trust me when I say they'll keep you just dandy when surrounded by an overwhelming gas cloud."

"What I don't get is how this place is even here." Blake suddenly said, eyes still fixated on the map "Who would build a dock this far away from the city with so little to protect it?"

"Those with too much money and too little respect for authority." the Specialist said before suppressing a yawn "An overzealous fishing tycoon wanted a docking yard for his boats and Vale wouldn't accommodate him due to some legal malarkey that eventually led to him shirking Vale authorities altogether to try building and funding it himself. Tried hiding it from them by hiring mercs and clearing out a piece of the coast for himself. They only got halfway through when the coast got hit by a storm which ended up dragging most of it into the ocean along with the poor guy's hopes and dreams. After that the survivors were besieged by Grimm afterwards yadda yadda you know how it goes."

"Another stunning tale about not getting too full of yourself." Fox noted before raising a hand "So if the drugged drink thing is out of the picture then why exactly didn't we set those charges at night? You know? Cover of Darkness and all that?"

"Look kid, there's a reason we haven't been able to get in until today."

The pale-eyed boy waited for the Specialist to follow up on that, but when the pause between words actually drew on he raised an eyebrow "Wh-?"

"Parties."

Coco took her gaze from the face mask and stared at their chaperone with a raised eyebrow "Excuse me?"

"Look, while they were setting up for this thing Ishmol's boys were all over the place building stuff and keeping that stuff ready for today." the Specialist began "Of course, once they finished their day work they consistently threw drinking parties every night where they'd crowd about singing and chugging and all that. Now, we initially thought it was a perfect chance to sneak in and set up."

"And... why wasn't it exactly?" Ruby questioned

"Listen guys, we tried three times to get in there beforehand and nearly got caught each time." the Older Woman recounted "Turns out that just because they get drunk doesn't automatically render them less effective like it would for a regular human or Faunus."

"Oh please," Weiss shook her head at that before folding her arms "you can't honestly sit there and tell me that their alcohol-"

"Actually helps some of them be more effective? Why yes, I actually am telling you that." Riley pointed out "Same as the Respiratory stuff the General went over, but to keep it short and simple Ishmol's drunks are surprisingly aware when they've downed a gallon or two."

"Just great." the Heiress sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose

"How exactly would today fare any better?" Yatsuhashi, who had remained silent whilst staring at the screen, finally spoke up "If this has been an issue up until now, what makes today different?"

"I thought it was pretty obvious there, big guy." the Specialist tilted her head to the side and grinned "The Tournament."

She turned and gestured to the map, pointing to the large Loading bay where the Arena had been constructed "With the Tournament in swing most of their Grog is being diverted to the guests and Ishmol's alcoholic lackeys are constrained to their posts and Guard routines for the most part. It makes things easier, but really we have to put the most stock into Maxwell and them being able to exploit today's advantages to the fullest. Thankfully, the guy's got quite the knack for exploiting weaknesses. So I'd say the chance of failure's only in the high twenties, maybe low thirties."

"Guess we're going to find out." Blake muttered as all eyes turned back to the screen.

* * *

Back in the partially submerged warehouse, the Drunks led Ukbuk and his wagon into a large room.

"This is it boys," the Grog-Maker turned to his two Wagon-Pullers "after today we'll be sitting nice and steady with the Arena Master's gang!"

"Saying it so confidently like that," one of the Pullers sighed "just makes me all the more worried."

"Oi!"

Their conversation was cut short by one of the Drunks, who gestured for them to follow "Leave drink here, Boss'll want sample after you's talks to him."

Despite his cohort's worries, Ukbuk merely shot him a smile before the three left with their guide.

Soon the other Drunks left to return to their posts.

...

...

"Are they gone?"

"Yes, they're gone. Which you should be thankful for Private."

The Wagon creaked as four figures emerged from underneath it, four darkly-dressed Atlesian soldiers rose beside the cart, with only one being identifiable from the rest due to his helmet being much thinner looking than the rest.

"I hadn't given the order yet, you ignoramus." Maxwell pointed out before holding a finger up to silence the younger soldier before he could begin giving excuses "Not... one... word... I'll put it into the report, just worry about not losing anymore of your credibility before the day's over."

The four Atlesians heard a loud series of cheers coming from next door, making the Specialist grumble under his breath "Seems they may have just finished with a bout. Which means we need to move now."

He turned to the others "You all remember where to set them, correct?"

After receiving nods, Maxwell turned to the entranceway "Good, we converge at the set location after all charges are in place. Try not to make yourselves look like jackasses by the time this is over."

* * *

Bubol watched as one of Ishmol's boys dragged the Faunus back to the holding pens downstairs as the dead Grimm began evaporating behind them. Honestly, the Archer was surprised that the weakened-looking Faunus managed to kill the Beast given how much pain he seemed to be in, but lo and behold it would seem that his particular method of eliminating his enemies was not to be underestimated.

Even then, it had taken him quite a bit of time to kill the Beowolf, but the sight of them smacking each other around seemed entertaining enough to sate the audience. Sure, the Diseased Archer could enjoy the sight of that Tortured body flying through the air as much as he wanted, but there needed to be a bit more variety in order to spice things up after a while.

And so when Ishmol drew the next two slips and mentioned that the next round would be between two captured village folk, Bubol stood from his seat and went exploring. The round would most likely consist of the crowd laughing and mocking the two poorly treated villagers until one either killed the other, or the crowd started throwing things jeeringly and one ended up getting brained by something.

Either way, not stimulating enough for an adventurous sort like him. He made his way into the adjacent halls as the laughter and jeers he expected echoed through them once the fight commenced.

As he wandered, he came across a glassless window that just so happened to have a perfect view of the ocean behind the building. The Diseased maniac was not one to avoid the finer things when time allowed, and so he settled against the window frame and prepared for some good old daydreaming about what he'd do to the next unfortunate sod he caught all alone. But before he could begin picturing the tormented looks on their faces, he heard voices.

Not the usual fantasy ones crying and begging for him to stop, but actual voices coming from the roof.

"When you guys get those parts of the train, a-are you sure you'll be able to use it?"

"... yes."

"Good, because despite Hork's current state, I know for a fact he'll latch onto this if it turns out to be a dead end."

"You... gave him the rest... of the train... why would he latch?"

It didn't take a genius to realize Bubol had just discovered a conversation between two especially interesting Uruks. That breathing growl which could only belong to the most darling destroyer of all time, and that Adorable worried tone that only Tugog could produce. Bubol took a moment to silently thank the Dark Lord for blessing him with such a bounty.

"You don't understand, after he figured out about his Brother's death he hasn't been the same. His burning rage has become some worrying undercurrent and I-"

"Meant to ask... Krimp's dead?"

"What? No no, it was Ashgarn. The short one."

"Good... far less interesting...than the twins... How?"

As Bubol leaned forward a bit to catch their words more clearly, a hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder and pulled him away.

The Archer protested loudly before he was dragged into yet another hall and tossed away from his sudden assailant, but as he turned to them and began letting his wrist mounted bow begin shifting back into place, he paused as he caught sight of two Uruks he hadn't seen in far... far too long. Standing before him was an average sized Uruk covered in bone armor which left his green skin mostly protected. Beside him stood a slightly larger Uruk with a thick piece of armor encasing his torso.

Bubol took a moment to look between the two of them before his eyes stopped on the one in bone Armor, "Felgrat Bone Snapper?" then turned to the other "And Grisha the Large? Why hello there!"

"Still as daft as ever I see." Felgrat sighed before folding his arms in distaste "If it isn't Bubol the Diseased, still refusing to have those pesky warts of yours removed. We'd been under the impression the Storm folk had you locked up so they could finally cure ya for good."

The Archer threw his arms open in excitement before laughing at the two "I haven't seen you two since that bout at the Quarry, how's it been going? I saw Kruk go down, but you two dove in the Quarry with the rest of your boys."

"You-left-us-there-on-our-own." Grisha spoke extremely slowly "Probably-was-the-one-who-sealed-us-in-there."

"That was the plan wasn't it?" Bubol tilted his head to the side and put his hands to his hips "We was told that if we got routed before we could finish mining then to take everything into the mine and seal it up."

"Even after escaping with that Tark weapon of yours, did you even once consider why exactly the Storm had us trap ourselves?"

Bubol looked at the two for a moment before shrugging "Nope. Not really."

"We-waited-for-something-to-happen." the Large Uruk muttered as he leaned against a nearby wall

"Oooh trapped in close proximity with each other and a bunch of slaves in a cave with barely any room? I'm so sorry I missed out on such a grand time." Bubol chittered before sighing "So how did that turn out then, hm love?"

"As expected the Shaman's Elite finally opened a portal in there and came for us." Felgrat sighed before scratching at his horridly bedraggled hair.

"Oh?"

"But-they-did-not-intend-to-reimburse-us." the Large Uruk looked to the ceiling as memories played across his eyes "They-slaughtered-most-of-our-boys. Would've-killed-us-all-if-we-hadn't-bartered-and-begged-our-way-out."

"Thanks to my exceptional talking skills," Felgrat smirked and placed a hand to his chest plate in self satisfaction "I managed to convince the Warmongers that there would be no harm to letting us leave. That we would in no way seek vengeance for our fallen comrades nor recompense for failing to pay for the services requested."

Bubol's eyebrow went up "And they bought that?"

"Because-its-true-ya-runt." Grisha pointed out "We'd-be-insane-to-try-crossing-blades-with-them."

"Yeah, honestly they didn't even have to lie about dust payment to get my help in the raid." Felgrat admitted with a shrug "The moment they showed up to my camp I was prepared to start sacrificing my own boys in order to escape."

"Really now?" the Diseased Archer lowered his arms with a thoughtful harm before looking them quite openly "Well let me just say that for fellows who barely escaped the Warmongers with your lives I must say you both look great. Still doesn't answer my question on where you've been though."

"Hiding. Staying off Shaman's radar. Don't want to risk him changing his mind about us."

"So then why are you two here specifically? This doesn't exactly seem like hiding to me, and I know hiding."

"We-made-a-bet."

"A little deal between the two of us concerning my entry." Felgrat said with another self-satisfied wave towards himself "A gamble I feel particularly confident in."

"Aw," Bubol cooed before poking at the bone dressed Uruk's side "Felsy got himself an Entry?"

Ignoring the demeaning nickname, Felgrat turned to listen to the sounds of the audience "Those two wastes of meat might be done soon, gotta see if my boy gets called." he then glared down at the Archer "You should tag along and tell us more about where exactly you've been."

The Diseased Lunatic cast a glance back to the hall he'd been dragged from before shooting them an Apologetic look "Sorry lads, was kinda in the middle of-"

"Spying on Tugs and the Stormbringer? Yeah, so was we before we realized that monster had already sniffed us out. Didn't want to test him, who knows what he might do if we're still there when they're done."

Bubol openly salivated at that thought, wiping some drool from his lips with a smile he said "Ain't you supposed to be convincing me to go with ya?"

"Who needs convincing?" Felgrat asked with a grin before nodding to Grisha.

Almost immediately, the Boil-covered Archer found himself trapped in the Large Uruk's grasp and was hauled off his feet. After being stuffed under Grisha's arm like a sack, he was immediately carried along with them back towards the Arena.

"O-okay..." Bubol said before giving a small struggle and groaning in delight "I'll play this game, mostly because this hold right here is _really_ doin' it for me, my lads."

* * *

Yang watched the platform descend, with one of the sobbing villagers being dragged from it and harshly dumped back in their cell by one of the Drunks. Her hands tightened on the bars, this was taking too long. If they really were doing this randomly then there'd be no telling how many times she'd get called out, she couldn't plan against potential opponents, and there was no telling how much energy she'd use when they did end up calling her.

The Storm seemed adamant that no other entry that could contend with her, well... except for whatever Ratlug entered. From her recollection, he was the one who outfitted Mincemeat with that bear-trap mask, so she expected whatever he had entered to look just as distorted if not more so. That was the one threat she could anticipate, wasn't enough. She'd yet to come up with anything beyond using her semblance to break out after one of her rounds.

It hadn't worked back with the Storm guys, but maybe here, with less aware guards...

Soon the cheers of the Audience arose and, like before, two drunks arrived for the entries. One held up the slips of paper before gesturing to Velvet and the White Fang Faunus who'd fought in the first round. The Rabbit-eared student tried her best to swallow her nerves as she matched Yang's worried gaze with one of her own.

She'd done all she could to clear her mind, to wipe away her pounding headache and refocus on the world around her. She was confident that she could fight, but nowhere near on the level that would be expected of her. If it had been a regular Fang Grunt she wouldn't have any concern, but not many regular grunts could take on a Beowolf all on their own.

As the drunks approached her cage, Velvet could only hope that her opponent's previous fight left him somewhat easier to deal with.

Hassled onto the platform which raised her into the middle of the Arena, she was instructed to move to the other side as the platform lowered once more for her quarry.

"Now many of you lads may see these Faunus beasts as an issue for those of us here in Vale." Ishmol called out, the Audience quieting a bit to listen "But here we got one o' there captains, and one of 'em who's a huntress no less!"

Velvet swallowed as the platform rose again, the baseball bat wielding Fang Captain already staring into her. He was a Captain? She'd assumed he was an unfortunate soldier they'd captured, but a Captain?

"Now look at them! Just animals ready to die for their masters." Ishmol called out with a laugh "Just for you boys, they're going to tear each other into little tasty pieces fit for feeding to the beasties they is."

As the crowd cheered Velvet saw one Uruk in bone armor stand up and lean over the edge of the arena to yell over the crowd "Courser! You better win this, you cur!" he shouted "If you make me lose this damned bet I promise you suffering of the finest degree!"

With that he angrily sat back down between an expectant Bubol and a silent Grisha.

Before Velvet could think too deeply on that, her opponent drew her attention.

"You're a huntress." Captain Courser muttered from within his tattered mask as he gestured to her with his free hand, which sported an odd-looking glove.

Velvet gave a slow nod, trying her best to evaluate the Captive Fang Captain the same way he no doubt was doing with her now.

Courser narrowed his eyes within the mask before reaching behind him "Good, then I won't have to feel any regret when I splatter your traitor brains across these monsters, you human-loving whore."

He pulled what could only be described as a baseball made completely out of steel coils from behind him, then tossed it in the air before gripping his bat in both hands and rearing back.

Immediately recognizing his stance, Velvet crouched low as he swung, the bat hitting the falling ball with a loud snapping sound which sent it speeding towards the rabbit Faunus.

Lunging out of the way, Velvet watched as the metal ball impacted with the wall of the Arena and sailed back towards Courser, who merely raised his gloved hand and caught the speeding ball with nary a trace of effort before tossing it up again.

Swallowing, Velvet folded her ears back as far as they could before charging towards him directly.

As soon as the bat connected, she flung herself over the incoming ball and let it pass under her before landing into a shoulder-charge. She careened into Courser, both of them careening into the ground with the masked-Faunus holding his bat between them trying to pry her off.

Velvet could hear the sound of the ball hitting the wall behind her, and leaned to the side as it sped past.

It was as she leaned that Courser pressed a button on the handle of his bat, the very top of it sliding open as a thin but powerful looking flame was produced. It looked like one of those grill lighter flames, but larger, and most definitely painful if she were to let it touch her.

Her momentarily distracted state allowed the Fang Captain to wedge his leg between them and kick her off him. As she stumbled back, the metal ball bounced back towards them again.

Courser noticed as well, and swung his bat through the air as the ball passed. The flame from his bat ignited the ball, giving Velvet more incentive to throw herself out of its path.

From his seat, Ishga was unimpressed so far, and was willing to let her know that "What are you doing you mangy-!"

Ishga was interrupted when Tugog raised a hand and gestured for him to settle "Ease up there, Blood-Storm. Surely she's got this handled."

"Yeah!" from the Warchief's other side, Skak leaned forward a bit to grin at the hunter "He hath foreseen it and all that, right buddy?"

Ishga narrowed his eyes, but obliged his master's request as he settled back in his seat. He glanced to Maku, who sat beside him with an expectant look, only to receive a casual shrug. With a small grumble, the Hunter turned his gaze back to the brawl.

Velvet was beginning to understand how the single Beowolf managed to last so long. As a larger creature with its sheer muscle mass, it had the raw power necessary to keep close-range long enough to interrupt any of Courser's battings. Unfortunately, she found quickly that she did not have the body for that. If she tried to keep out of range of that bat, he'd merely go for his ball and fire until he hit her. With how off center she was, that would most certainly lead to a quick defeat.

However, she did begin forming a plan as she dodged the metal ball repeatedly. Diving past it again, she darted towards Courser once more.

The Captain opened the top of his bat and swung it once she entered his range, Velvet slid to the side as the bat singed the floor beside her. The two of them momentarily backed away from each other as the ball sped between them before Courser rushed her with swings of his weapon.

She shifted out of the way as fast she could, but stumbled when her feet caught one another.

Courser immediately capitalized as she began falling, raising his bat and stepping close. However, Velvet managed to catch herself, sending one of her feet up into his unprotected stomach before he could bring down his bat.

With the wind suddenly forced from his mouth in the form of an angry grunt, Courser stumbled back as his aura shimmered.

He backed up before reaching behind him as Velvet pushed herself back to her feet. The Fang Captain reached back and caught the Metal ball, which had simply remained bouncing between the walls of the Arena, before swinging it back around.

Not expecting it, the ball bounced off of Velvet's head. Though without the raw strength of his bat behind it, it merely left her stunned with a headache after her Aura was done soaking up the strike. However, as she backed away, she saw that the ball had bounced off her head and sailed back towards Courser, who was already rearing back to swing his bat.

Thinking quickly, Velvet merely allowed herself to fall back to the ground as the ball was sent sailing over her once again.

In the stands, among the crowd of cheering and jeering Uruks, the Storm Captains watched with interest. Well, Ratlug and the Shaman watched with apparent interest, Ogthrak merely kept his eyes glued to those around them and Krosh tapped at his knees while waiting for his entry to be called.

"The Warchief certainly picked a determined little thing, hm?" Ratlug commented

The Shaman nodded.

"Nowhere near as great as _our_ entries but I suppose some credit is due to his gaggle of idiots for acquiring quite literally anything."

Another nod.

"Such a sloppy style of fighting she's adopted, yet she still lives... I suppose that counts for something."

"Good god, could you just shut up and watch?" Krosh finally voiced his annoyance

"Oh dear, have you found something new to whine about?" Ratlug asked while shifting his lens-less glasses "How is it that even amongst all these cheering lads you still feel the need to be insulted by me in particular?"

"You're right next to me."

"Not my problem, go sit somewhere else."

"Yeah? Like where?" Krosh asked rhetorically

"I'm sure Bubol would love a strapping young lad like ya'self in his lap."

"You know what? I fucking hate you."

Velvet jabbed her elbow into Courser's side before dodging out of the way of his bat, her ears warning her just in time to slide out of the way of the metal ball again.

The crowd roared for more, sides already forming amongst the audience based on who they wanted dead by the end of it. Resounding opinion showed her as the less favorable option.

The White Fang Captain wasn't doing much better than her, his sheer brawniness must've allowed him to shrug off whatever torture he'd undergone. As a result of this treatment and his previous brawl, Courser's Aura was weak. Velvet focused on guerrilla tactics, she could only dodge for so long at long range and she didn't trust her footing to keep close to him. She might not be able to catch herself next time.

And so she'd keep close only after managing to evade both bat and ball, then dart back to mid-range where she could focus on the ball and ready herself for the next run.

Tedious but effective, she'd gotten good hits in here and there, but she was positive Courser knew what she was attempting and was getting ready for a sudden change of tactics.

It was as she dodged the ball and went in for another quick scuffle that it happened. He readied his bat to intercept her, but instead of its tip popping open to produce flames again, he loosened his grip and grabbed hold of the top before lunging into her charge.

The handle was rammed into her gut and he threw her back before catching his speeding ball out of the air once again.

She rolled out of the way as his boot stomped at the ground beside her, kicking up dirt as he swung his bat down.

Velvet, however, was a spry one, and managed to drag herself back out of range of his weapon.

Pushing herself to her feet, Velvet knew she couldn't take another strike like that. Despite merely being the handle she just didn't have the Aura to withstand his blows.

Courser raised his bat and pointed it towards her as she caught her breath, judging the distance before tossing... his bat.

The top popped open and began spewing flame as it spun towards her. Velvet hadn't expected it, and took a moment too long to slip out of the flaming weapon's path. By the time she diverted her attention back to Courser, he was already mid-jump. And so she threw herself out of the way as his feet connected with the ground she previously stood upon.

It was as she came back up and spotted him getting into a different stance that she realized the dual-purpose of his glove. Mimicking a professional player with no hint of hesitation, he reared back before launching the ball with force similar to that of his bat.

She could dodge it, of course, but he immediately kicked his bat back up into his hand and whipped it towards her as the flame burst forth once more.

Velvet couldn't keep up, he didn't give any tells to whether he'd swing his bat or discard it in favor of a quicker pitch. She'd entertained the idea of going for the bat to use against him, but he always kept it close enough to make nearing it too great of a risk.

But then... every option she had so far was too great of a risk, and so she accepted that she'd just have to channel her inner Coco and throw caution to the wind in favor of getting out of the situation as quickly as possible. And so the next time he pitched, she darted towards him just as he kicked up his bat again. Diving past the flames of his weapon again, Velvet latched onto his head and tried to scale him before he could recover.

Unfortunately, he recognized her plan the second she began leaning him into the direction of his metal ball just as it bounced off the wall.

She underestimated his stability, the Fang Captain planted his boot in the ground and steadied himself as the metal ball spun behind them. Gripping his bat in both hands, he swung the bat directly over his head before the top began opening. Directly in its line of fire, Velvet knew that falling back would send her directly in the ball's path. But moving anywhere else would leave her susceptible to flame.

So she gritted her teeth, released his head and quickly took hold of his shoulder instead before leaning back under the Bat's flame and sending one foot into the back of his knee.

They both went down just as the metal ball rebounded off the walls of the Arena again, and the captive huntress in training took a moment to recognize she'd bet everything on literally milliseconds worth of timing as she turned to see it incoming.

But Gravity favored her that day.

The ball impacted with the side of Courser's head, shattering his aura, a portion of his mask, and Velvet was more than willing to bet a piece of his skull if the horrid sound accompanying it was any indication. The force sent both of the Faunus tumbling to the ground as the ball bounced off...

...directly towards the Grand Shaman.

Ogthrak leaped into action first, lunging towards the Storm's Leader with full intent to intercept the offending projectile. But the Stormbringer merely raised a hand and plucked the speeding ball out of the air a mere moment before it could touch him.

Velvet rose to her feet with only a minor stumble and some heavy breaths, her eyes glued to the Storm Ruler as he slowly looked over the ball in his hand.

Her attention was stolen as cheers went up, whoops and hollers spread amongst the attendees as Ishmol called out from above.

"And there ya have it, lads! Seems the lass ain't as pitiful as I thought she was, guess them other entries gonna have to look out for this one."

"That's right!" Velvet could hear Skak laughing "Our girl knows how to handle a brawl now don't she?"

"Quiet!" Ishga muttered "Don't oversell it!"

"Are you kidding me?!" barked Felgrat, who swung his arms furiously before grinding his balled fists against his head.

From his side, Bubol chittered before raising a hand and patting the enraged Uruk on the back "There there, lad. If it makes you feel better he did look delicious in that torn outfit of his. Could barely contain myself, and that counts for a lot in my book."

The Bone-Snapper was about to turn and let his anger out on the sadomasochistic sicko when Grisha arose from his seat.

Velvet tried to look somewhat stable, but she was more tired than she'd expected. It had only been her first fight, and of course she'd have to end up with the vengeful Fang Captain who just so happened to play Lethal Baseball. She'd have to hope that she'd get weaker opponents, there was no way that she could deal with another-

"Guh..."

A groan from her side brought her attention back to Courser, who clutched at the side of his head as he rolled onto his side.

Velvet hadn't the time to consider the sheer lethality of her plan, mostly trying to end the fight before her sluggishness caught up with her, but she found herself pleasantly surprised that the White Fang Captain managed to withstand it. She had hoped she wouldn't have to kill anyone during this tournament, but Courser's willingness to bludgeon and burn her to death had eased any potential misgivings on her part. She supposed in some ways she should be thankful that a murderous Fang Captain was her opponent, if she were to go up against one of those poor villagers she truly had no idea what she would do. A Beowolf or two she could handle, but a defenseless townsperson provided minimal solutions.

Velvet caught her breath as she watched Courser try and fail to get up, falling back to his knees as his damaged mask slipped off.

"Tear him to pieces!"

Those words clued Velvet in to the change in tone that the Audience had adopted.

"Crush his skull!"

"Paint with his innards damn it!"

Velvet let her eyes roam over the bloodthirsty crowd before going back to the defeated Faunus, she couldn't do that. It was different from when they were fighting, now he was wounded and defenseless.

"Just do it."

Finding her gaze back on Courser, she watched as he slowly turned his head to glare at her "Get on with it you Housepet, do it."

"I... I'm not killing you."

"Good-for-me."

Both of the Faunus turned to see a large Uruk leap from the stands into the Arena before casually walking over to them "I-won-the-bet. You're-mine."

Bubol tilted his head at that proclamation, then turned to a still irritated Felgrat to ask "Oh, so that's what ya bet, eh?"

Those words seemed to stir the Bone-Snapper into action, immediately looking up and pushing past several Uruks to get to the edge of the Arena "Grisha! You don't know what I went through to capture that Hybrid! Please, we need to renegotiate!"

The Large Uruk came to a stop before the wounded Fang Captain before turning to give Felgrat an even look "You-bet-him, he-and-his-weapon-are-mine."

"I didn't know any of these useless imbeciles would have something more powerful!"

"Then-it-is-your-own-fault." Grisha shook his head

The large Uruk settled his gaze on the Grand Shaman, who casually examined the metal ball, before raising his own hand in an expectant manner.

Ogthrak looked as if he was about to say something, but the Shaman acquiesced to the unspoken demand and tossed the ball into the Arena.

"What were you thinking?" Ratlug asked as he gave Ogthrak a cheeky grin "You know something of that caliber would do nothing to the Master, and yet you practically throw yourself in front of him expecting to be necessary."

"I am his shield," the Large Warmonger Stated as he settled back in his seat "if I were not to respond to threats in such a manner I wouldn't be fulfilling my purpose."

"Shield's just a title Oggie." Krosh said with a small sigh "you know as well as we do that the Boss doesn't need defending from anything. So just focus on being entertaining for him, eh?"

Ogthrak gave a small grumble, but said nothing.

Down in the pit, Grisha quietly watched as Courser finally summoned the strength and will needed to finally push himself up off the ground. Hand still pressed firmly to the side of his head, the Faunus glared up at the Uruk.

"Don't care which of you I'm stuck with. I'll find a way to escape." the White Fang Captain quite literally spat out, as Grisha calmly stuffed the ball into his pocket.

Velvet winced as she watched him take a small step towards his new owner, the grunt of pain he gave as he forced his body to stand strong reminding her of the sheer force he must've been struck with.

"I'll come back with hordes of my brothers and sisters." he stated, words dripping with rage "We'll end you monsters, just like the racist pigs running our world! You're no better, no better than those filthy slaver shits! You all deserve to burn in the same pit together, to be wiped away so that we may take our place as the only ones truly deserving of the-"

Before her very eyes, Velvet watched as Grisha's hands rose...

...and tore the top of Courser's head from its body.

She watched his fingers dig into the Faunus' scalp, watched his muscles bulge as he began pulling in two different directions. Courser hadn't even a moment to bellow a scream before his upper jaw and everything above it went with one hand and the rest went with the other. Being so close, the quick and gruesome action sprayed Velvet with a noteworthy amount of the White Fang Captain's inner crimson.

She had merely a moment to blink some of it from her eyes before the crowd erupted into cheers, cheers which pretty effectively drowned out Felgrat's cry of shock.

"You bastard! Lost sixteen Uruk putting him in shackles!"

"Would've-been-a-problem-to-someone-later. Better-gone." The Large Uruk reached down for the bat lying beside Courser's body "His-weapon-however..."

Soon Grisha pulled Courser's glove onto one hand, the very tips of his sharp-looking nails piercing through the end, but otherwise fit reasonably well. He leaned the bat on his shoulder before turning and walking off.

"I'll-be-taking-my-leave-then." was all he said before reaching up and allowing several of the audience to help yank him out of the fighting pit.

Velvet was still frozen, eyes glued to Courser's semi-headless frame. It was when two Drunks grabbed hold of her and began dragging her back to the holding cells that she took a moment to steady her breathing.

Yang shifted in her cell when she saw Velvet, immediately pressing against the bars and staring as her Faunus schoolmate was returned to her cell and the Drunks made their way back out.

"Vel!" Yang called out to her, wincing as the rabbit-eared girl turned to her "Are you... okay?"

Velvet turned to her slowly, but managed a tired smile "I did it, guess... guess I'm sticking around for a little longer, hm?"

"Yeah but... are you _okay_?"

Velvet wasn't quite sure what Yang was asking her about, and was prepared to question her on it when she took a cursory whiff and smelt something... burning?

She realized the scent was one she'd initially smelt in the Arena, but had simply attributed it to Courser's bat. Had the smell followed her? Her eyes travelled upwards, and her breath halted once she caught sight of the source.

She hadn't been as quick as she'd hoped to be.

A good inch of her left rabbit ear had been completely burned off.

When had that happened? When had her Aura failed!?

Had she just been going solely off adrenaline at the time?

If she'd been hit with the ball in this condition then there was no doubt she would be the one whose body now decorated the fighting pit.

Yang watched as Velvet slowly reached up to her wounded ear and touched it hesitantly, shaking fingers nearing the burnt appendage only until she winced and pulled back.

"Vel-"

"No... Its... I'll be fine..." the Faunus spoke as the numbing adrenaline began fading, leaving her to the stinging sensation of her singed flesh "I just need to focus on regaining some Aura."

Velvet folded her ears back out of sight, curling her legs underneath herself as she tried to ignore the pain. She needed to recover, she couldn't risk being called up again without an Aura.

* * *

"So... how do you think your girl's doing in the ring?"

Fox lifted his head at that, "The fighting's started already? Why didn't you tell us?"

Riley shrugged "Because if I did you all would be clambering over here asking worried questions and I don't like having to consistently hand out answers."

"Miss Trost," Coco began as she turned to look at the Specialist from atop the pile of crates Fox was leaning against "are you implying that we don't have any self-control?"

"Coco," Weiss sighed before glancing back to the older student "the second we arrived here the woman needed half an hour to convince you that Fox should not be piloting the transport when we storm the place."

"I still believe he has more than enough training in that regard."

"I only took two out of the three year program," Fox said with a groan "we've been over this. Just because I know how to keep a ship in sustained flight does not mean you can just have me flying random ships! Those cockpit sims can vary depending on-"

He was silenced as Coco leaned on her side and reached beside the crate to wrap an arm around Fox's head and squeeze "Ah, can it. You just don't wanna end up being designated driver for us after we graduate."

"I do not believe there is a single bar in Vale which would allow you to park a flying vehicle near it." Yatsuhashi stated immediately before turning back to the Atlas Specialist "Ma'am, if I could pose a question?"

"Go ahead big guy, we got some time."

The large student turned his attention back to the screen they were all gathered around, specifically the red dot on that screen "Why is it that we're only monitoring the location of the detonator? Would it not be more beneficial to monitor all the operatives in play?"

Before Riley could answer, Coco chimed in "Yeah, and what about helmet cams and vital scans and all that stuff we're supposed to see. That's usually how they do it in the flicks."

"Well we're not the ones who're supposed to see that stuff." Riley admitted "All that stuff goes directly to the General, right now Ozpin and him should be gathered back at Beacon in the Professor's Office going over it right now. All we're supposed to do is wait for their signal to charge, quietly readying ourselves and such."

"Then..." Ruby turned away from the screen to raise an eyebrow "what about this? Are we supposed to be seeing this?"

"Hon, I've seen what completely bored kids can get up to, thought I'd throw you guys a bone."

The Kids shared several glances before Fox asked "But is it _alright_ that you're showing us this?"

The Specialist paused for a moment before shrugging "Probably not."

* * *

 **Vacuo- The Desert Tower**

Right outside a certain Surgeon's lab, a tall berserker covertly observed his surroundings before drawing closer and closer to the door of said lab. It opened suddenly, and the Uruk's eyes went wide before he suddenly blinked away as an ugly Uruk in an apron stepped into the hall with a stretch and a casual flip of the cleaver in his hands.

Tarz the Surgeon lowered his arms and smacked his lips together before looking up and glancing around him, his putrid mouth eventual settled into a confused straight line. He was fairly certain someone had been standing there previously. The pig-faced Uruk shrugged after a few seconds, then closed the door behind him before walking off. Several seconds passed before the Berserker dropped down from the ceiling, thanking his semblance for what must've been the seventieth time in the past four days alone.

Tuka's time with the Garrison's forces had been challenging these past few days, but due to the nature of his semblance he'd mostly been able to avoid any accidents that might put his life at risk. But working in the Gate-Keeper's army entailed more than just the threat of potential assassination by any number of angered Uruks wishing to see vengeance enacted upon those who troubled their master so. He now sported black war paint in the form of stripes which traveled across all of his exposed skin. He'd made sure to do the paints himself, not wanting to risk any others mixing poisons into it.

And now, after surviving the first few days, he finally had a chance to deal with something he'd worried about since they were first dragged into Garrison HQ.

He needed to be sure, needed to erase one particularly large threat to his potential rise to power. A threat which lied just beyond this door, waiting for him to deal with it in a manner only an Uruk with the precision and skill such as his could-

"Ahem."

Tuka froze with a hand merely an inch from the Surgeon's door, his hands turning back to find that he hadn't been caught by anything of import.

Uthug and their little slave companion stood glaring at the larger Uruk, both of them looking worst for wear.

The warrior held his musket in one bruised hand while the other wiped at a fresh claw mark which ran along thee right side of his face, he also sported the indicative black markings of the Garrison. The Fang Grunt's uniform looked even more tattered than it had been when they'd arrived at the tower, exposing her bare knees and most of her arms to the harsh elements. Seems she's used the torn parts of it to try and haphazardly wrap up her exposed limbs.

They both were covered in dirt and bruises, a far cry from the nearly unblemished body of their Berserker Companion.

The two stared at him for a moment, the Dual Axe Wielding Uruk giving a bored yet expectant glance between them every so often "What?"

"You didn't show up for the Executioner's drills." Uthug pointed out

"I had something to do," Tuka said with a shrug "I'll make it up to him by pulling a double shift tom-"

"Oh no, no no my friend. He says its alright." Uthug placed his knuckles on his hips as his eye twitched a bit "He said you can miss all the practice you want, as long as I'm there to fill in for you."

Tuka gave a slow blink "Do you expect me to apologize?"

"Oh no, just maybe feel a little bit of sympathy for the Uruk who spent all morning as a training dummy FOR AN ENTIRE PLATOON YOU ABOLUTE ARSE!"

"Oh come off it." the Beserker groaned before moving towards the door only for a smaller hand to grip his shoulder.

"I have quite literally worked my hands to the bone for the past few days." the Fang grunt said through gritted teeth "I've been whipped, stepped on, beaten, bruised, and covered in filth of varying degree."

"Good, now you can look and smell like the waste of space you are! Now if the two of you could shove off I'm-"

"When will you accept that your plan fucked us!?"

"Fucked _us_? You's the slave here wench, don't even assume we can be lumped in together!"

"But she's right damn it!" Uthug growled before pinching his upper nose in resentment "Can't believe you got me bloody agreeing with the tark, but we're gonna die at this rate!"

"You're gonna die because you're a weak little bastard." Tuka pointed out

"No, don't even start with that. The Garrison boys are gonna be wearing us in days if not hours." Uthug rubbed at his face before pausing and pointing at the Berserker in an accusatory manner "You was the one who told me on the first day not to sleep in an unprotected area since we might not wake up. How is that not enough for you!?"

Tuka waved him off before turning and peaking into the Surgeon's Lab "Uruks try killing each other all the time, this is par for the course."

"This ain't the same! This ain't like drinking another glob's grog or accidentally killing their favorite slave! We got the Warchief himself seeing red whenever he so much as thinks about us, and his entire army wants to impress him with our corpses!"

"Hork's too rule-abiding by nature, he wouldn't break his own code by actively trying to kill us. As long as we avoid the assassination attempts we can work our way to his favor."

"Didn't seem so rule-abiding when he was dangling your ass off the tower." the White Fang grunt pointed out with a grimace "That looked a lot like actively trying to kill you to me."

"I told you," Tuka said as he looked down and shook his head "I don't know what that was. But now-"

"So much for knowing him, huh asshole?"

"Alright, you know what?" Tuka turned from the door and growled at her "I could quite literally just forego dealing with your shrakh by skewering you right here and right now, damn it."

"Actually, you can't." Uthug interrupted with a snide grin "Garrison can't go wasting slaves without due cause. You actually _can't_ kill her while we're with these guys, so much for that hm?"

"Wait... really?" she turned to look at him as Tuka groaned.

"Aiding the Tark now?" Tuka shook his head before entering the the lab "Have you really stooped so low?"

"You made me do it!" Uthug argued as he and the Faunus followed behind, albeit a bit more hesitantly "The anger she inspires in me can't even hold a candle to the raw rage I feel when you're in my thoughts."

With Tarz gone, his 'Lab' was as still and eerie as one would expect an Uruk Surgeon's workshop to be. His dirty board with the occasional drawing still remained nailed to one wall, several tables had the telling blood and tools which spoke of the 'Treatments' probably conducted here, and an Unopened Dreamer Gate was drawn on one wall with the remnants of several used ones beside it.

But Tuka's goal lay across the room from them, covered in a tarp.

"Your excuses give you no credibility, worm." he noted as he eyed the covered lump now within his sights.

"Aw, sad that you don't have a number advantage over me anymore?" the Fang Grunt chuckled

"Don't..." Uthug began as he turned his glare to her "don't even assume that just because I ain't working with him, means I'm dumb enough to start working with you."

"Hey I don't like you." she sighed as she turned to the Warrior "I mean I really don't like a thing about anything you are or represent. But if it gets back at this asshole over here then maybe... if we work together-"

"You're asking me to choose between swelling tumors or a skin disease," the Musket-Wielder stated "I'd honestly rather have neither of you slowly killing me with your presence."

"I'm trying to bargain with you!"

"I know... why?!"

Tuka rolled his eyes as the two went from arguing with him to arguing with each other, honestly if Uthug just went ahead and accepted the Tark's little offer Tuka could use that as probable cause to dice them up right now. He sighed happily at the thought, but shook his head. Now was not the time to get lost in fantasy, he had a job to do.

He approached the covered lump.

"Why can't you see the advantages here?!" the Faunus shouted

"You mean the advantages of losing a loud, annoying Uruk who's probably gonna end up killing me with his antics in exchange for a loud, annoying Hybrid who's probably gonna do the same thing?" Uthug shook his head, "I want a plan that ends up killing both of you so I won't have to deal with either scenario, thank you very much."

Tuka groaned as their incessant back and forth led to him calling back with "You both perfectly encapsulate why Tarks deserve slavery and Uruks need leaders like me to keep from being just as deplorable."

The two paused to look back at him, Uthug folded his arms before raising an eyebrow "You... a Leader? Don't flatter ya'self. Why were you even coming here anyway?"

Tuka's response was to pull the tarp from the lump, revealing the body of their old pal Ashgarn lying atop the table.

Almost immediately Uthug and the White Fang captive flinched at the sight, with the Faunus almost instinctively inching behind the Uruk to put something between her and the unmoving gorger's gullet.

"I'm here for this." Tuka stated before looking down at the body with a frown "Tying up a potential loose end before it could develop into a problem."

"Damn it!" the Faunus bit as she glared past Uthug towards the Beserker "Is there anything you do that doesn't involve that fatass's body?!"

"Tuka, he's been still for about a week now."

"So?" Tuka turned to him in disbelief before gesturing to the All-Eater "Lad got skewered through the head and was walking around later after we thought he'd been dead for weeks!"

"He got crushed under rubble, and Hork pretty much savaged any bones that were left unbroken!"

"Skewered. Through. The Head." Tuka said as slowly as physically possible before grunting "I'm not risking him coming back and outing us to the Warchief, I hadn't expected Hork to react so strongly-"

"Yeah, because despite your constant bullshit it seems you don't know a damn thing about him or his family relations." The Faunus pointed out with a roll of her eyes

"-but if Ash says even a little lie, Hork'll jump at the chance to have us all executed."

"And _this_ is somehow simpler than just leaving?!" Uthug asked "By the Dark Lord, do you not even consider the possibility that staying here is a damned stupid idea! And by the way, I don't frankly understand how you plan to earn the Warchief's favor by chopping up his brother's body!"

"Don't worry, I planned for today. Had a Blacksmith down in the Shanties work on something for me." Tuka said with a grin before reaching behind him, it was only then that the two noticed a third handle protruding from between his dual axes.

He grabbed that third hilt and unsheathed a long thrusting sword from behind him, raising it up with a self-confident grin "Had him make this, blade's similar enough to the White-Haired murderer's, as long as I line it up with the wound I shouldn't leave much of a trace."

"You know, technically she's not his killer if he died out in the desert via crushed to death trying to devour us." Uthug pointed out as the Faunus behind him peaked out to glare at the body.

"Why the hell is he even here?" she asked "Shouldn't that Warchief guy have him?"

"Oh, Tarz is the best Doctor we got around here," Tuka answered evenly "of course he'd be the one prepping the body of a Warchief for burning."

"The bastard once offered to amputate my legs for an arrow lodged in the shoulder." Uthug recalled "If he's the best we got then it just goes to show how shrakh our current roster of healers are."

"Just because he likes cutting things to pieces doesn't mean he doesn't know how to actually fix someone."

"Look, can we just go?!" the Faunus begged "Forget about stabbing bodies and let's focus on getting the hell away from this tower."

"Oh what do you even have to complain about?" Tuka rolled his eyes "Compared to the rest of the slaves here you're living the high life!"

"Need I remind you of the shit I've gone through the past week?!"

"Exactly! Living the damned high Life!"

This time, Tuka couldn't resist getting dragged into the argument, the trio getting so caught up in their bickering that they didn't notice the movement.

"At least I've been doing something!" The Berserker bit "You two have just been riding on my coattails!"

"You don't even have a shirt let alone a coat." The White Fang grunt spat out

"It was a figure of-"

"I fucking know!"

Uthug tilted his head to the side as he glanced to her "Then what would possess you to use tha-?"

"Oh, you want some too?"

"Want what? Whatcha gonna do? Throw ya feeble little hands at me while trying to loo-loo-l-"

The Faunus and Berserker turned to the Warrior, who seemed frozen in shock as he stared in open-mouthed horror at something past them. Gasping like a fish as his sentence was garbled and choked inside his throat. Slowly the two others followed his gaze...

...and once more locked eyes with Ashgarn, sitting up on the table he once lay prone upon.

A shriek tore its way out of the Fang Grunt's throat as she once more dragged a still gob smacked Uthug in front of her.

"Ha!" Tuka laughed before grinning at the two of them and jerking a thumb back to the death-defying Uruk "Guess who was right yet again!"

The Uruk and Faunus before him remained frozen as they watched a dazed looking Ashgarn slowly shake off the confusion.

"T-Tuka?" the Musket-Wielder began

"And here you two were moaning and groaning about my genius plan," The Berserker continued gloating "but it don't seem that ill-conceived now does it?!"

His two companions meanwhile, watched in horror as the Glutton's one eye soon fell upon them.

"Tuka!" the White Fang Grunt shouted

"And don't even get me started on how much of a pain in the arse you've been!" Tuka rolled his eyes before pointing his thrusting sword at her "Always badmouthing my glorious plans. Acting as if I know nothing when, in reality, its the two of you who don't know a damn thing about-!"

"You."

That voice actually managed to shut the Berserker up, and soon he glanced behind him as Ashgarn finished lowering himself off the table.

"You... brought me here." the All-Eater began as his eye traveled around the room "... Is this brother's tower?"

"Oh... right." Tuka said slowly before givng a small cough into his free hand "Ashgarn, look. I know you may feel disoriented, unsteady-"

"Aren't those the same thing?" Uthug whispered to the Faunus still hiding behind him

"-you're unsure where you stand and crave answers."

"You dragged me here..." the Glutton growled as he reached back towards the table behind him "right back to my brother."

"And while that may initially seems like a bad thing, I implore you look at this situation as a whole."

"Are you-" Uthug narrowed his eyes at the Berserker "-trying to bargain with him?!"

"Its what I do best." Tuka shrugged

"We almost died last time you did that!"

"Yeah," the White Fang grunt muttered "instead of letting history repeat itself, can't you just skewer him like you were planning to?"

"You planned to what?!" Ashgarn yelled, causing both the warrior and the grunt to flinch back

"Oh this just had to be the time to bring that up." Tuka glanced back to them "And you two say _I'm_ the one constantly getting us into messy situ-"

He was interrupted as Ashgarn released a howl of rage before tearing the leg off the table behind him and charging forwards.

He leaped forward, prompting Tuka to release an actual squeak of shock before raising his sword and catching the makeshift club midair. What he wasn't prepared for was when the All-Eater's foot shot forward and promptly buried itself in his gut, launching the taller Uruk back. Before Tuka could steady himself, the club collided with his sword hand and sent the thrusting sword clattering away. Ashgarn raised his club to capitalize on the Berserker's disarmed state when suddenly Tuka blinked away.

Snarling, the gorger glanced around to search for the axe-wielder as a certain shifty Faunus snuck past him.

Eyes locked on the discarded thrusting sword, she kneeled to pick it up. It was a bit large for her, but damn it if she didn't need a weapon right now!

But then she turned to find Ashgarn already mid lunge, and had only a brief moment to think back and question several recent decisions she's made in life.

Raising the sword and stepping to the side, she managed to deflect the crushing blow, the force behind it throwing her balance off. Before she could steady herself again, Ashgarn's foot swung into her shins and immediately brought her to the ground. Having to catch herself, lest she accidentally skewer herself on the sword, the Faunus could hear the plump Uruk readying another swing, and quickly rolled to the side as the club collided with the ground.

She scrambled to her feet and broke into a run as Ashgarn turned to leap at her before she got too far. He was however, interrupted when two axes grazed along his back, but failed to penetrate his aura. Immediately he swung back, Tuka just barley managing to deflect the club.

The White Fang Grunt immediately sought a place to hide, confident as she was that she could somehow escape in the midst of this chaos once the Uruks focused on each other. Her gaze fell upon an overturned table at the other side of the Lab, and she immediately leaped over it before pressing her back to it in hopes that they hadn't seen her.

"Hey!"

Blinking, she turned to find Uthug also hiding behind the table whilst holding onto his musket for dear life "Find your own hiding spot!" he whispered to her

"Shouldn't you be helping Tuka fight?!"

"Fight Ashgarn? If he's killing Tuka I want to throw him a damned feast." the Warrior hisses before pointing at her accusingly "Besides all you want is a chance to book it."

"What? How did you-?"

"Because I know you, Hybrid."

"Oh really? I thought to you I was just 'Sub-Human Garbage.'"

"Exactly, I know your type."

Before she could get angrier at his suppositions, Tuka was sent sailing over the table and skidded along the floor before slamming into a wall.

The Warrior and Faunus blinked simultaneously before the Musket-Wielder sighed "That ain't good."

Against his better judgement, he sat up a bit to peak over the table.

Only to immediately get tackled by Ashgarn, the sheer weight throwing Uthug onto his back while trying to desperately to keep the plump Uruk's jaws at bay with his musket. Unfortunately for him, using both his arms to hold weapon left Ashgarn to rear back with his club. But before he could bring it down upon the Warrior, the thrusting sword collided with the side of his face and sent him tumbling away as his Aura flared.

The White Fang captive took several steady breaths before grinning to herself and looking down at the Uruk "Seems this Sub Human Garbage just saved your-"

"Don't care." Uthug stated as he pushed himself back to his feet

"What?! How can you just not care?!"

"Pretty easily." the Warrior stated as Tuka stumbled over.

"Okay," the Berserker began as he stood straight "We need a foolproof plan-"

"No!" the Musket-Wielder roared "No more damned plans!"

"Ugh," Tuka rolled his eyes before glancing back to them "so you intend to take on the All-Eater without any form of tactical positioning? Even I didn't think you could be this un-apologetically brain-dead."

"Every single time I even step close to one of your blasted plans, I nearly die!" Uthug stated sternly before narrowing his eyes and growling "So ya know what? You and your 'Tactical Positioning' can bite the darkest part of my arse! I'm just going to wing it and try to live!"

"Really?" the Berserker glanced back to him "You'd rather stake your life on that than on a concise and understandable strategy?"

"Yes!" Uthug bit as he hefted his musket "if tactics and thinking are so life-threatening, then I say screw both of them!"

Tuka paused at that and, despite Ashgarn already being back on his feet, turned to Uthug with an unreadable expression "Ya know... despite that being the most inconceivably brain-dead thing I've ever heard... I can actually respect that kind of dedication."

"...really?"

Tuka didn't even have time to answer before a club slammed into the side of his head and sent him spinning away as Ashgarn barreled past him.

Uthug stepped back, narrowly avoiding the club before shoving the butt of his rifle into the Gorger's Gut. The impact forced air from the Eater's maw, despite his Aura absorbing most of it, but soon his jaws opened wide as he leaned towards the Warrior. Uthug went wide-eyed and threw himself back out of the Captain's range, but tripped over the broken table and fell.

Before Ashgarn could capitalize, the White Fang Grunt swiped at him from the side with her sword. He recovered too quickly for her, swinging his club into the side of her head. Despite both of their Auras flashing from the impacts, the Uruk was clearly far more use to taking a hit. He reached with his free hand and grabbed her by the neck. Before she could even try to wiggle free, she felt herself getting lifted off her feet.

"Please for the love of all that his holy," she squeaked, grabbing hold of his arm as she felt his grip tighten "be gentle!"

And then she was choke-slammed through the broken table.

Ashgarn stretched his neck as he approached, grimacing down at the Faunus. Her Aura flickered, dangerously close to failing already, even as she tried to blink away the pain and refocus on the Uruk before her. Ashgarn grumbled unintelligible words before raising his club. Before he could brain the weakened woman, a dust round slammed into his side. Immediately he turned to Uthug, who had regained his footing and was now lining up his next shot.

"Damn it! I was going for his head!"

"And I'm going to be digesting yours in no time you grub!"

Uthug swallowed and pulled the trigger as the Glutton charged him, the Gorger's club intercepting the next set of bullets as if it were nothing.

As the distance between them shrunk, the Musket-Wielder froze as Ashgarn leaped at him club raised. Before it could connect, the Warrior felt a hand on his shoulder and was promptly shoved out of the way as Tuka leaped past him to intercept the Glutton. Uthug watched open-mouthed as Tuka collided with Ashgarn knee first before the Captain could finish his swing.

Ashgarn landed with a stumble, but Tuka's approaching footsteps forced him to raise his club and begin blocking the twin Axes.

"Uthug!" Tuka shouted before blinking out of the way of a strike and resuming his flurry "The Sword!"

"What about it!?" the Musket Wielder questioned as he hastily tried lining up another shot

"We need it once his Aura's down! That has to be what puts him down!"

"Like hell it will!" Ashgarn roared

"Its the only way we can leave as little evidence of us being here as possible!"

Uthug blinked at that before taking a look around the lab "Tuka, there's evidence all over this damn place!"

"Just trust the plan!"

"Screw your plans!" the Warrior shouted before turning to the broken table "Hybrid, can you still fight?"

"I... I... should I hurt this much!?"

"Get up and get in there damn it!" Uthug hissed before turning back to try and get a clear shot

Despite Tuka landing many a hit, Ashgarn showed no signs of tiring. His Aura was a different story.

During one of Tuka's slashes, the Gorger ducked underneath the axe before immediately reaching up and latching on to the taller Uruk. Ignoring one of Uthug's rounds impacting with his weakening Aura, the Glutton hauled Tuka over him and sent him sailing towards the Warrior.

The White Fang Grunt leaned up slowly, trying to get her bearings. She turned to see Uthug firing and was about to say something when she saw his eyes go wide. And then Tuka slammed into him bringing both of the Uruks to the ground.

"Get off of me!"

"Why didn't you dodge you cur?!"

As the two struggled to disentangle themselves, Ashgarn turned to them and growled before taking a deep breath.

Uthug spotted it first, the color draining from his face as he watched the All-Eater "Tuka... is that what I think it is?"

Instead of answering, the taller Uruk merely screamed "Move!"

The trio scattered, with the Faunus scrambling away from the Uruks and Tuka blinking away while Uthug broke into a sprint as what could only be described as a vortex sprouted from Ashgarn's throat, immediately sucking in the various clutter around the room. Tables, drawings, and tools were all dragged into the void, but the three managed to avoid it. But then Ashgarn turned.

Uthug ran along the edge of the room even faster as the vortex followed just behind him, legs pumping as fast as they could to avoid being dragged in with the rest of Tarz's stuff. Ahead, he saw Tuka blink atop one of the remaining tables and nod to him with a grin.

"Glad to see you're taking your role as bait so vehemently!" Tuka smirked before darting from the table and charging Ashgarn "Now you've left yourself wide-!"

Ashgarn snapped his jaws shut, killing the vortex instantly, before jerking towards Tuka and opening his mouth again.

Tuka's eyes went wide, having not accounted for the sudden shift, and Uthug desperately tried to kill his forward momentum and skid backwards...

...but it was far too late.

The Vortex sprang to life again, now with both of the Uruks trapped in its pull. Tuka immediately tried blinking away, but the moment the pull started he slammed his axes into the floor to keep from being dragged in. The Berserker gritted his teeth, distracted momentarily by Uthug sailing past him towards the All-Eater's void of a mouth.

Uthug's cries seemed to make Ashgarn's one eye narrow in anticipation as the Uruk sailed towards him, but they weren't loud enough to cover up the sound of something metal clattering to the ground somewhere behind him. Before Ashgarn could even think about quickly glancing behind him, the White Fang Grunt leaped onto his back and wrapped her arms around his neck and shoulder.

The force made him stumble forward and his jaws snap shut, the vortex petering out with them. Now free from the pull, Uthug fell on the ground beside the plump Uruk and struggled to get up as the Gorger roared and tried prying the Faunus off him.

Having traded the thrusting sword for one of the filthy Uruk-Hai Surgical tools Tarz had lying around, she reared back before stabbing at Ashgarn's already weakened Aura "Guys! I'm almost through!"

"The hell you are!" Ashgarn bellowed

"Do something!" she yelled as her eyes went to Tuka, who looked up at her before glancing past them and blinking away "T-Tuka-?"

As soon as she began questioning where the Berserker had gone off to, Ashgarn opened his mouth and caught her wrist as she stabbed at him. Her question soon shifted into a scream of pain as his teeth tore a chunk out of her wrist, despite losing her grip on the blade her other arm managed to remain clinging to Ashgarn. The Glutton seemed ready to remedy that as he raised his club to brain her, but suddenly the butt of a musket swung into it and snapped it in half. Uthug reared back out of Ashgarn's reach, having run out of ammo for his musket and no time to search for more, his eyes traveled between the struggling hybrid and the enraged All-Eater before he groaned and charged back in.

"Bind him!" he shouted as he ducked a swipe of the plump Uruk's claw and grabbed hold of it.

Catching his drift, the wounded Faunus bit back the cries she was desperately trying to hold back and moved to hold the Uruk's other arm.

"Tuka!" Uthug shouted as the two struggled to hold the Glutton in place "Where are you damn it?! We got him right-!"

"Oh quit mouthing off."

Uthug's head twisted around to spot the Berserker in question sliding his axes back into the straps on his back, the Plan-lover giving him a self-confident smirk before he nodded down to the thrusting sword the Faunus had discarded. Without words he kicked the blade up into his grasp and blinked past them.

The Musket-Wielder's head turned back around to find Tuka standing several yards away from them.

"Ashgarn..." the Berserker said as he pointed the sword towards them

"Oh no..." the All-Eater's eye went wide as he began struggling violently "Not again! Damn you all!"

"Why the fuck... are you pausing dramatically!?" The White Fang Grunt shouted towards the Plan-Maker as she tried desperately to keep the Gorger as still as possible.

Tuka didn't give her an answer, merely getting in a ready position before taking off towards them.

"You scum-sucking snake in the grass filth!" Ashgarn spat as Uthug and the Faunus struggled to keep him still "Back-stabbing, traitorous, silver-tongued grunt! No taste! No appreciation for anything, you arse!"

As Ashgarn grew more vitriolic with his insults, the Hybrid took note of something "Tuka, I'm right behind him so watch where you-Tuka?"

The Berserker paid her no heed as he grabbed the sword in both hands and steadied his aim.

"Oi! Watch where you shove that thing you Plan-Crazed glob!" Uthug pitched in

As over-dramatic as ever, Tuka leaped towards Ashgarn on his final step, plunging the thrusting sword deep into his empty eye-socket. The blade passed completely through his head and reopened the same wound which downed him all that time ago, grazing the Faunus on its way.

She let out a small scream from the grazing, the sword going all the way along her left cheek to right above her ear.

Ashgarn went still, and soon Tuka pulled the blade from his head. He and Uthug stepped back and watched the All-Eater fall back.

Directly on top of the White Fang Grunt, who released a pained grunt at nearly being crushed by the dead Uruk.

Uthug glared at Tuka, who gave a shrug and another smug smile before saying "You know, if we leave her maybe we can pin this on her and get back to-"

"Oh just shut the hell up." the Warrior grumbled as he walked away.

"You say that now, but ya gotta admit my strategy worked perfectly."

"Your _strategy_?" Uthug asked as he kneeled down to help pull the tark out from under Ashgarn's fallen body "If anything it was _my_ strategy."

"Oh but you said it yourself, you don't do tactics or thinking." Tuka reiterated with a cheeky smile before placing a hand to his chest "So it had to have been mine."

The Warrior gave a very slow blink before sighing "Ya know what? Fine, it was your strategy all along I'm sure."

While Tuka gave a small humored laugh, Uthug helped the Faunus to a sitting position. She was clutching the bite wound on her wrist trying to keep pressure on it, angrily muttering about not getting a warning before nearly getting gored along with Ashgarn.

Uthug grumbled at the sight of the wound before standing up "Ya gonna need that looked at, I can run ya by one of the Sawbones and see if they can get ya mended."

She looked up at him and swallowed before tilting her head "What?"

"You're going to what?" Tuka snapped out of his self-reverence once he realized what had been offered

"You may think you're gifted by the Dark Lord himself-"

"What? No I'm not..." Tuka stated before grinning "But acting like I was does come with perks."

"-but this little Hybrid saved my arse, I can at least keep her from dying as repayment."

The White Fang Grunt blinked at that... and then promptly fist-pumped with her good hand "Yes! Progress!" she cheered before wincing and immediately clamping down on the wound again with a few muted whimpers.

"Wow... you really are becoming a proper filthy tark aintcha?" Tuka commented

"The both of you can shut up," Uthug groaned "we're all dying once the Surgeon comes back anyway, least you two can do is not make my life any harder before then."

"Whatever do you mean, lad? We silenced Ashgarn!"

"Tuka... just look around us!" the Musket-Wielder shouted "I don't care if he looks the same as the day she bloody stabbed him, we've left evidence everywhere! Face it! That damned white tark didn't kill Ashgarn! We did!"

"True, but not a soul has a way of knowing it was us specifically who did any of this." the Berserker stated before chuckling "And everyone knows that something can't exist as long as nobody knows a thing about it. We merely stay quiet and go on about our day, I'll ditch the blade and then we just let everyone think what they want to think. Come on... my plan worked perfectly."

"Yeah, I know a perfect sod who can melt that blade down for ya."

None of the trio had said that.

Soon all three heads turned to the Lab's doorway to find a smug looking Tarz leaning against the doorframe with a cup of grog in hand.

"And yet the hate for your plans grows deeper." Uthug grumbled under his breath towards a stunned Tuka as the Surgeon strolled in.

"Oh don't worry about me lads and lass." the putrid faced Surgeon said as he walked over and knelt beside Ashgarn's body "I'm great at keeping secrets and all that."

His disgusting lips stretched into what could've been a smile as he prodded the still All-Eater before humming and getting up.

"Tarz" Tuka begins as the Surgeon walked past them to one of the makeshift chalkboards which had been marred during the fight "you don't understand the full story here."

"Oh I would just love..." the wounded Faunus began "Fucking _love_ to hear you try and bullshit your way out of this one."

"I said ya don't have to worry 'bout it none." Tarz waved them off as he hefted himself onto one of the last few tables left standing and leaned back on it with his legs hanging over the side as he took a swig "Ya had issues with Ashy, who seemed to be having a bit of a nap, and killed him... I ain't gonna tell a soul. I'll even patch up ya slave for ya, wouldn't want her dyin' after goin' through a tussle like that eh?"

Uthug narrowed his eyes "And why-?"

"Because I'm great with secrets!" the hideous Uruk cheered before giving a small laugh and raising a finger "For instance: I've been chopping up slaves and smuggling Grog all over the Shanties down below, and neither the Warchiefs nor the Garrison are any the wiser!"

The trio stared at the foul-faced freak as he gave another few hearty laughs and took another swig, Tuka was the first to say "...Excuse me?"

"Oh yes, me and a bunch of the other medically inclined didn't take too kindly to the Gate Keeper's restrictions and decided that what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him. So we've been nabbing slaves and pinning their deaths on suicides and Grimm attacks while smuggling as much Grog as we could grab down into the Shanties where it is secretly handed out to all the thirsty lads en masse!"

The trio continued staring before the White Fang grunt asked "Why... are you telling us this?"

"I told ya! I'm great at keepin' secrets, but only as great as the ones I'm keepin' 'em for."

"...No..." Uthug began as his eyes grew wide with realization

"And what better way to show that you's great at keeping secrets than displaying how devoted you all are?"

"No no no!"

"He's not asking what I think he's asking," the Faunus turned to a still stunned Tuka "is he?"

Tarz finished his cup and placed it on the table before leaning forward and shifting his grotesque visage into a grin "And nothing says _devoted_ more than helping us in our endeavors, eh?"

"...Oh god damn it."

Uthug turned to Tuka "Still part of your master plan?"

Tuka looked from him to a still grinning Tarz and winced "Okay... we may have gone a _tiny_ bit off track here."

* * *

 **Vale Coast - The Arena**

Ukbuk and his pullers stood in an adjacent hall, watching as Ishmol shook the mug in his hand a bit and watched the drink within stir. Flanking him were Mozu and Tuvor, both Shield-Bearers stared as the Arena Master raised the mug to his lips and took a steady swig.

Lowering it, he settled a gaze on Ukbuk "It tastes exactly like real Grog..." he muttered before looking back down into the brew "Even better than some of the swills they got back home!"

Ukbuk grinned as he two Wagon-Pullers looked to each other in excitement "I'm glad its everything you wanted, we've waited forever to actually speak with you and were starting to get worried."

"Apologies mate, I have a tournament and guests who desire entertainment." he said before taking another smaller sip "But this right here... this is truly impressive laddie. How? How is it you managed this?"

"I've always been devoted wholly to the drink sir, back in Mordor I was training under a Grog-Maker and was making headway to being one of the best!"

"Really now?" Ishmol asked as he lowered his mug

"He was busy working with a Warchief in a distant land when Tugog's little spell happened, from the moment we arrived here I was dead set on making some fine drink outta this realm's givings."

"We came to this place many months ago... and all that time you've spent on this?"

"Yep," Ukbuk chittered before pulling a rolled up paper from his trousers "crafted this recipe meticulously and what not. Skulked around past Grimm, Hybrids and Huntsmen alike finding ingredients. There were dozens if not hundreds of failures I had to work through. But I've got it down pat sir."

Ishmol took the recipe and looked it over "Lad... I was a Famous brewer back in Mordor before I started workin' in slaves, and I don't think even I'm dedicated to the drink enough to do all this. Now you've gone and impressed me, devotion like this deserves somethin'"

Ukbuk placed his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest proudly...

...before a dagger was buried into said chest.

"Uk-!" before the Wagon-Pullers could rush to his aid, Mozu and Tuvor already had them pinned to the ground.

The Grog-Maker's eyes went wide as he glanced down to the Slavemaster's hand currently wrapped around the dagger slicing into his lung, before coughing blood and attempting to reach for it. Ishmol gave a small smile at this before yanking his blade out, holding the recipe behind him to protect it from the spray of black blood which accompanied the blade's exit.

"B-but why?" Ukbuk croaked as he lurched forward onto his hands and knees.

"Obviously ya got a good thing here mate," Ishmol cooed as he read over the recipe again "honestly quite genius in fact. But here's the thing, lots of Uruk would be willing to ditch their current bosses for real Grog. You just don't look like the leader type, ya know?"

"But...but..."

"Ugh forget it, I'll leave the diabolical mugging about to the Ratlugs of the world." Ishmol waved it off before kneeling in front of Ukbuk and smiling "I'm killing you so I can take credit for the recipe and reap all the affiliated rewards. Tons of the good stuff for my boys? Taking it. Loads of new recruits? Thank ya very much. The notoriety of being the first Uruk to fashion proper grog out of the shrakh lying around this land? Why one earth wouldn't I nab it?"

With that he nodded to his two drunks, and the last thing Ukbuk heard before passing out from blood loss was the sound of his allies' necks being snapped.

Ishmol stood over the Uruk and shook his head while he bled out "Tsk tsk, didn't even have his Aura yet." he said before turning to his drunks "I mean what kinda bastard walks around without an Aura in these parts?"

"You said it boss, dumb dumb didn't have no Aura he didn't!" Tuvor clapped enthusiastically "Sure showed him ya did boss! Ya smarter than him!"

"Don't patronize me Tuvor," Ishmol rolled his eyes before raising the recipe before him and grinning "Ya ruining the moment. I mean, with both this and the Shaman's reward for helping him and his with their little surprise I'll be livin' it up after today!"

"About that Cap'n," Mozu began "been thinkin about it."

"Well that's a first."

"But wouldn't helpin' out the Storm disrupt the tournament?" the drunk finished

"Who gives two rats asses about the tournie?! I put this whole damn thing together because it was a perfect way to seek leverage!" he pointed towards the recipe as his grin spread wide "With both this and the Shaman's support, I could well be on my way to becomin' a Warchief boys!"

It was then that the crowd began cheering again, and Ishmol turned to the sound with a grumble before pocketing the Recipe and gesturing to his Shield-Bearers "Move these idiots. Storm's probably nearly done setting things up, and I got me a show to run."

* * *

She just needed one damn battle!

This was ridiculous, all these fights being randomly chose and she hadn't been picked once? To be fair, from the number of cages down here they hadn't gotten through half of the roster yet, but even so. She'd refrained from interrupting Velvet while the rabbit-Faunus focused on recovering, she knew damn well that going up there without an Aura would be a gamble not to take.

The unfortunate side effect being that she'd been left with her thoughts once again, and damn it if her thoughts get annoyingly worried in situations like these.

Was it really just by chance that she wasn't being picked? Could this be part of some plot? If anything Krosh seemed dead set on showing off how much better she was than everyone else so that didn't seem likely. Besides a few considerably large Grimm and a few other angry White Fang captives there wasn't much she could immediately tell about the possible competitors. Unlike Courser, many of these Faunus still had most of their Fang Uniforms relatively intact, giving her only minor ways to distinguish them from each other.

Besides that were her neighbors, Velvet and the Sulker. He hadn't been called upon either but besides her just sat in one place patiently waiting. In all honesty she'd forgotten about him due to how silent he was, having been still as a corpse the entire time. In fact...

Walking to the wall of her cell which connected to his, Yang grabbed the bars and leaned against them while peering at him "Hey buddy. What're you in for?"

No response.

"So your own guys did this to you? Did you get turned on by your boys or lose a fight or something?"

She'd seen the Storm use Chief-less as practice dummies, so that's nowhere near as shocking as it should be. But still he remained quiet, but at this distance she could clearly see that he was breathing. No problem, she'd had plenty of practice with Mulgrim in the art of annoying stubborn silent types into talking, and if she was gonna be stuck in here then she might as well-

The cheer from signaled that the next names had been called, and soon she waited for the two drunks to arrive and see who was chosen. As anticipated, the duo arrived with the strips and one looked down at the labels.

"Entries from... the two Storm Captains?" one asked the other

And there went her focus once more. What the hell? There's no way this was the first bout she had.

"Swordsmith and the Warmonger, that's them."

Seriously? The first time she's called upon and she's immediately going straight to taking on Ratlug's entry? She wanted to assume this was a coincidence, but her time at Beacon and with the Uruks convinced her that coincidences hardly ever happened like this.

Soon one of the Drunken Uruks walked over and opened her cell, another going to retrieve her opponent.

She'd focus on the probability of this being part of some master plan later, right now she needed to focus on her opponent. Even while being ushered towards the lift, she kept her eyes glued to the other Drunk, watched him walk past her own cell and step in front of the Sulker's.

"Oi, you's ready in there?" the alcohol soaked Uruk asked before lifting up a heavy-looking bag and shaking it "Ya owner wanted me to give ya these before you be goin' up there."

Oh of course it'd be the most nondescript fucking guy in there. Had Ratlug delivered him there first or something? He must've!

She knew next to nothing about him besides the fact that he was a big Uruk! A description which fit pretty much all of the Audience!

She couldn't even get a peak at what was being delivered to him before she was sent up to the Arena.

"Finally!" she heard Krosh shout as she was walked to her place on the other side of the fighting pit "Show them what you got lady!"

Wait, so even he was pissed about it taking so long?

Before she could interpret that any further, the lift rose once more with her challenger on it.

Standing tall with some notable fat and muscle, he wielded two full sledgehammers connected by chains to some odd-looking gauntlets. He was bare-chested like many other Uruks she'd seen, with some notable scars all over his torso. Not the wild and furious ones that Courser had, these ones looked oddly precise cuts. But then she took a look at his head and realized she'd have discovered his role immediately if she'd just gotten a good look at it earlier.

Attached to his square-shaped head were several thin wrappings and another one of those muzzle headpieces she'd so far only seen worn by those associated with the Storm. Mulgrim, Mincemeat, and now this guy? It was smaller than either of the others, only wrapping around his lower face. Even from here she could tell that it was keeping his mouth shut quite literally, practically the exact opposite of Mincemeat's.

"Here we go lads," she heard Ishmol shout "Mug the Muzzled vs the Golden Girl!"

"Golden Girl?" she muttered under her breath as she continued eyeing the Muzzle-wearing Uruk up "Seriously guys?"

At that Mug raised his Sledgehammers, the chains attached to them began retracting into the gauntlets in a manner that seemed far too familiar... in fact-

"Hey Ratman!" Yang called upto the smug looking Swordsmith after getting a better look at her opponent's gauntlets "The hell is this?"

Above Ratlug clapped his hands together in a chipper manner, occasionally glancing to the side to gauge the reaction of the hooded Shaman "Oh, remember when I said I was thinking about doing something with your weapon designs? Well, I may have already done something~!"

Yang's frown deepened as she evaluated her opponent.

"At first I worked on recreating yours, but then we found this little treat here and I had a grand idea!" the false doctor continued as he glanced down to Mug "So I took the loading mechanism made some adjustments then voila! Chainwrap Hammer Gauntlets!"

"The hell did you name them that for?" Krosh asked

"Its what they are really, extendable and retractable chains mixed with a built in launch clasp designed for violent repositionin' of the hammers." Ratlug explained with a smirk before turning back and calling into the fighting pit "Mug! Be a good pet and crush my boy's hopes for me."

The Muzzled Uruk gave some type of garbled response, unable to speak through the restraints of his mouthpiece, as Ratlug whipped out a familiar little remote and pointed it at Yang. She heard a tiny, almost unnoticeable click come from her Gauntlets, and quickly cocked them as the crowd began sheering.

He made the first move, immediately rearing back and launching one of his hammers at her. Yang hadn't been prepared for how much range he had. Even though she was on the other side of the arena she had to throw herself to the side just as the hammer crashed into the ground beside her.

As she rolled to her feet, he grabbed hold of the chain connecting him to his hammer and yanked it to the side. Yang's eyes widened a bit before she leaped once again as the chain dragged the hammer underneath her. He didn't stop there, swinging out his other hammer as the other one zipped back to him. Dodging that one, she fired several blasts at him.

He growled before sidestepping the blasts and whipping the other hammer back to him. The two ran for each other as the crowd's roars of bloodlust increased, fist met hammer as the two began pummeling each other, both dodging and retaliating as much as possible to wear the other down first.

Krosh watched on with a nail in his teeth, not even noticing Ratlug staring at him until catching sight of the taller Uruk out of the corner of his eye "What?" he asked

"Worried there laddie?" the labcoat wearing doctor asked while shifting his lensless glasses on his face

The Warmonger glared for a moment before grinning and folding his arms over his chest "Not at all, I trained Lady myself, she can handle your hammer-wielding meathead any day of the week. Doesn't matter how many toys you give him."

"They are impressive none the less." Maku said

Both Krosh and Ratlug shifted to look behind them, having not noticed the smaller Warmonger approaching from behind.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be with Dreamer?"

Maku gave him a look before nodding towards the Shaman, who was watching the brawl below with full interest "I wished to inform the Master that our new friend is almost ready, and wishes to know how we're doing on our end?"

Krosh gave him a confused look as Ratlug's smile grew wider "Why just gotta have a chat with some of my boys real quick." he said before whipping out a scroll and pressing several buttons, only to frown a bit and stand up "I'll be right back lads, don't bother calling me when Krosh's slaves gets the boot, I'll be able to tell from the anguished cries."

As the Swordsmith wandered off, Krosh glared at Maku "What are you doing?"

"Not much," the Hunter said with a shrug "Dreamer and the boss had a little chat together earlier and worked something out with a few neutral parties."

Krosh turned to stare at the back of the Shaman's hood, eyes narrowing for a moment before Ratlug plopped down in his seat again and reclined with a chuckle "They say everything's a go."

Maku nodded before looking at the Shaman as well "Boss?"

The Shaman remained silent odd eyes still locked on the two combatants as they moved around each other's swings. But after a while of the Storm Captains waiting in anticipation, their Leader finally gave a hum "...Next match."

Yang ducked under a hammer only to find another already incoming, without time to dodge she raised her arms together and deflected the blow as best as she could. The impact was enough to still send her flying, and Mug aimed to capitalize on this by firing one of his hammers at her as she fell. She oriented herself mid-air feeling the heavy weapon fly past her.

He grumbled before pulling tit back, not expecting her to grab onto the chain with one hand while cocking her other. Eyes wide, he raised his other sledgehammer to begin deflecting blasts and block her incoming fist. She sailed over him, stumbling a bit on the landing and immediately aiming ahead of her and firing. The blast of her gauntlets sent her flying backwards directly into Mug. They both fell to the ground, the brawler immediately rolling off the Uruk as he gave a garbled growl and raised both his hammers.

She continued rolling away as the sledgehammers slammed at the ground just beside her. Finally she had a chance to get to her feet as he leaped towards her hammers raised. She blasted him twice and stepped back just as the heavy weapons careened into the ground and kicked up a cloud of dirt. He searched through the falling grains catching sight of the incoming fist just in time to rear back.

He failed to get out of her range quick enough, the shotgun blast spinning him as Yang rushed forward to capitalize. He swung back with one of his hammers as he stumbled, which Yang had to duck quickly to the side to avoid. Just as she went to resume her charge she felt something impact with the ground right behind her leg. He'd fired the other one while she was dodging.

It sped back to him, taking her leg out from under her and bringing her to the ground as the Berserker dove for her again.

She scrambled to her knees before lunging forward underneath him as he slammed into the ground weapons first once again. Turning around she just barely managed to lean back as one of the Hammers nearly careened into her jaw. Before she could get off a shot, the other hammer slammed down onto her rising gauntlet and shoved it down. Mug kept with his momentum, following through with a shoulder charge which sent her reeling again.

So far her Aura was good, but she really didn't want to get caught in too many of those rapid heavy combos. Catching her breath while Mug stretched his neck, the two shared a moment of silence before it was shattered as she released a flurry of blasts.

Ishga paid the battle little attention, instead he worriedly kept taking small glances towards Tugog. Skak had no such problem, as he and Blood-Axe were having one of their usual one-sided conversations, commenting enthusiastically on the battle below. The Hunter was more inclined to pondering.

"Troubled, Blood-Storm?" the Warchief asked

Ishga sighed "Are you sure about this, Master?" he asked before turning to the larger Uruk "Skak and I went through a bit of a hassle capturing and containin' her. What if this doesn't work out? We'll have wasted so much time."

"How so? Even if Pugrish's little demonstration doesn't work out we'll have the train's cargo and a display of power."

"But... What if this-?"

"Don't worry 'bout it brother, I can get a Dreamer Gate up in mere minutes if I need to."

The two turned to see Maku walk over, pushing through several other chanting Uruks to stand before them "Stormbringer and them are ready, we begin next match."

Tugog turned back to Ishga, who gave his brother a concerned look before sighing and turning to his Partner "Skak, come on."

The Axe-Wielder glanced at him for a moment before blinking "Huh? Where we goin'?"

"We're going downstairs... its time."

Yang didn't have time to notice the two Red Uruks getting up and walking away from the Arena, she was too busy ducking forward under another hammer swing and ramming her fist into the side of Mug's face.

The Muzzled Uruk stumbled back with a deep growl.

"Okay Mug," Ratlug called out from above "I notice the blonde ain't exactly crushed yet. Mind picking up the pace?"

But Mug didn't seem to notice, instead his gaze went down to his own muzzle. As Yang took the time to catch her breath, having exhausted more Aura than she would've liked dodging the rapid blows, she watched her opponent reach up and press a thumb to the side of his muzzle. Looks like it was a bit busted from that last hit.

Yang smirked at that, if she managed to graze that thing then his Aura must not be faring much better than her's. His grip on the weapons tightened before he leaned forward and took off at a dead run towards her. Yang released a breath, now even more confident that she could do this, and rushed to meet him head on.

Cocking back one of her Gauntlets, her swing was halted by the handle of one of his hammers. Raising her other fist resulted in the same thing, they pushed against each other, both grunting and glaring at the other as they stiffened their stances.

But it was there, nose to muzzle with the hammer wielding Uruk that Yang saw it. For just a second, she saw Mug's eyes glance quickly to the side in a very deliberate manner. Was there something behind her that would warrant such a thing, he did it slow enough for her to catch it but what-?

He did it again, this time Yang was more easily able to see his eyes glancing to the small piece of the muzzle she'd broken.

The two locked eyes for a second more before the blonde nodded at him.

Mug grumbled something unintelligible before rearing back and slamming his skull into hers... though without the force she knew he could put out.

She stumbled back and grimaced as she saw him launch himself towards her again weapons ready. Grinning, Yang lurched to the side and rammed a fist into Mug's side as he descended.

He stumbled, giving her just enough time to bring back her other arm and slam her full fist into the side off his head again. He didn't seem to take too kindly to that, as he reeled from the hit, his foot shot out and pulled her's out from under her. Still disoriented a bit from the punch, Mug took a second too long to bring down his boot, giving Yang ample time to lunge out of the way.

The Huntress in training came up swinging, the Muzzled Uruk having to deflect her blasts with the handles of his sledgehammers. Mid-block he shifted to the side and rammed his shoulder towards her again, but the Huntress-in-Training noticed this and slid out of its way before ramming another fist into his head.

She could feel his Aura struggling under the successive hits, but it seemed to do nothing but enrage him further. He leaped back and raised both hammers. Eyes widening Yang immediately began running to the side as Mug launched both Hammers, which sailed into the ground right behind her with pretty destructive results. He whipped them back and launched them again, repeating the attack until Yang got in the rhythm enough to fire back. As expected, he slowed down in his attacks to dodge, giving her the perfect opportunity to charge him.

He sent both hammers hurtling towards her, but the Blonde simply let her grin grow once more as she leaped over the incoming hammers before they could slam into her kneecaps. She planted her feet onto the chains, but before she could leap the rest of the way towards him, Mug seemed to figure out what she was planning and quickly pulled the hammers back to him. The sudden move quite literally yanked the chains out from under bher, but Yang gritted her teeth and swung her arms behind herself before she could fall. A quick shotgun blast sent her hurtling towards Mug faster, and it essentially became a race between her and the chainwrap gauntlets to see which would reach the Uruk first: Yang's fist or the hammers?

A second shotgun blast seemed to answer that, as she quickly outpaced the hammers and reared back. Mug's eyes widened and he forewent waiting for his weapons and began raising his hands to defend himself.

But alas, he just didn't have the speed.

Yang's fist sank into the side of his face again, Aura failing to hold up under the force. He went sailing back and collapsed along with his two hammers as the Brawler landed. Taking a moment to catch her breath, Yang crouched over a bit before raising both fists to the sky as the crowd roared its approval.

"And looks like the Muzzled has fallen!" Ishmol cheered over the crowd.

"Ha ha! That's what real training gets ya!" Krosh shouted before turning to his father "Got any wise ass things to say now, huh?!"

Ratlug's smug expression seemed indomitable, as the Swordsmith merely gave a tiny shrug "Oh well, I suppose he didn't have the brawn."

The Warmonger was unsatisfied with that answer "What? That's it?"

"Did you expect me to bawl and cry?" the Engineer gave a small laugh "Oh do act like an Uruk and put your pettiness aside. We haven't even got to the best part of today."

After hyping himself up to finally make his Elder eat his own damn words, Krosh could only growl and hope that winning the Tournament would give him better results.

With that in mind, he turned back to the Fighting Pit and whistled to get Yang's attention "Hey Lady! Mind finishing that bastard already so we can get back to winning this th-?"

"And now on to a special treat ladies and gents!" Ishmol shouted loudly

Krosh seemed to match Yang's look of confusion as two of the Arena Master's guards approached her and the Muzzled Uruk before she could even begin protesting the thought of executing someone.

The Warmonger blinked before looking down for a moment then turning to glare at his father "What did you do?"

"Oh, did we forget to mention the slight alteration to the plan?" Ratlug asked sarcastically before giving a small giggle of self-satisfaction

"What the hell have you done?"

"Me!? Why this was all our master's doing." Ratlug gestured to the silent Shaman before leaning back and thinking for a moment "Well actually, it was concocted by an interesting fellow who got in contact with us."

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

Yang was confused, what kinda special treat was this?

She'd spotted the same look of confusion on many of the Audience's faces, so she had to assume that it wasn't made apparent to them beforehand. That was bad, things that she couldn't predict could foil any type of escape plan... not that she'd gotten around to fully fleshing one of those out anyway, but still!

The Drunks guided her and Mug back to the platform, the Muzzled Uruk shaking his head noticeably as they descended back into the holding pits.

Yang's thoughts were interrupted immediately once she spotted Velvet already being guided along by two of the Red Uruks she'd seen with her earlier.

"Hey Vel!" Yang called to her as the Faunus was led past them towards the lift "What is this?!"

"I-I don't know!" the Rabbit Eared girl answered with a confused tone before the smaller of her two Escorts shook her.

"Focus on walking, Hybrid." Ishga bit as he and Skak ascended on the platform with her.

It was only after Yang had already been shoved back into her cell that she spotted something in the Hunter's hands.

Chains... and not the type that Mug used with his weapons... those were restraints.

The cell's door slammed shut just as the dread seeped into the blonde's stomach. Immediately she grabbed for the bars and shouted to the drunk who'd escorted her "Hey- hey what the hell are going to do up there?"

The drunk gave her a queer expression before he heard a grunt behind him.

Mug was giving the other drunk a hassle, having apparently not lost all his energy during the battle.

"He-Ugh!- Moving too much!" the Muzzled Uruk's guard shouted "Help hold him!"

The other Drunk nodded before rushing over, and that's when the hammer-wielding berserker made his move.

Once the Guard was in range Mug leaned back and slammed the side of his head into his helmet. After receiving so much damage during the battle, the Muzzle was unable to withstand the impact and broke into pieces upon contact. While the Guard reeled from the blow, Mug leaned back and sank his teeth into the ear of the one restraining him. A sickening tearing sound followed the Guard's enraged roar as Mug broke free from his hold and immediately raised his hammers again.

Before the drunk could even reach to cover the spot where his ear once was, a hammer slammed into the side of his head and sent him tumbling to the ground. Mug spat out the ear clutched in his teeth just as the second Drunk regained his balance and charged him.

A Sledgehammer slammed into his gut right before Mug launched it and the alcohol soaked Uruk across the holding area, the Drunk was slammed into the wall with enough force to make him upchuck blood before sliding to the floor in a heap.

Mug's hammer raced back into his hand, the Uruk sniffing the air for a moment before spinning and deflecting the other Guard's weapon mid-swing, apparently he still had some fight left in him.

The formerly muzzled Uruk saw to that quickly, as his two hammers found their way into the Drunk's ribcage and lifted him off the ground. Mug spun the dazed Uruk, and Yang backed away from the bars right before he slammed into the door of her cell. She could practically feel the bars rattling from it. Unfortunately for the Guard, by the time he shook off the confusion one would expect to receive from being slammed against a metal cage like a bag of flour, Mug's boot was already incoming.

Mug caved in both the helmet and the head inside with little effort, Yang was lucky enough to be out of the blast zone when the black blood went flying.

That luck would apparently run out immediately as Mug turned from her cage and began making his way to the exit.

"Hey!" She called to him "Come on Mug, hurry up and let me out!"

The Hammer Wielder turned to her and growled "The name's Muggrish the Rock Crusher Tark. Why would I help you?"

The Blonde blinked "Because I helped you out there!" she said through gritted teeth "Busted your muzzle, I thought you wanted my help getting out!"

The Rock Crusher actually turned and scoffed "I did, but never did I once say I would return the favor." he said before pointing a hammer to her " I merely took advantage of Tark idiocy like any other superior being."

"They've got my friend up there!"

"You should forget about her." Muggrish stated as he turned back to the door "If those traitors are really going through with their ploy then she's already dead."

"Wait! What are they planning!?"

But he was already out of the door, "Damn it Mug!"

Yang backed away from the bars before sliding to her knees and swinging a fist into the ground. Uruks... not even the victimized ones seemed to give a shit.

Great, back to square one... except now Velvet was apparently in some deeper crap than expected. So much for comradery winning out in the end. God, the ease with which he just left her... Yang didn't even want to think about how long her list of Uruks who'd royally screwed her would get at this rate.

Letting a grunt of frustration, she swung her fist into the ground again, only this time a familiar blast accompanied it.

It shocked her out of her rage, had Ratlug not locked her Gauntlets?

She cocked her arm back and let loose another blast.

Quickly getting back to her feet, she looked at both her hands before turning towards the dead Uruk lying against her cell. The impact he'd made when he slammed into it had looked and sounded pretty violent.

Tightening her hands into fists, she adopted a stance and took aim for what she was pretty sure was the point of impact.

"Well Mug, you might actually have helped me anyway." she said before rearing back and letting loose.

* * *

 **Beacon Academy**

"That should be the last of them."

Ozpin, Glynda and Ironwood were all crowded near Ozpin's desk, hovering above it were a series of screens. They were live video feeds, most of which showing the Helmet Cams of the Infiltrators as they moved about Ishmol's Arena. They had just watched what should be the last gas canister being prepped and armed, the infiltrators were moving to converge and detonate.

"Honestly," Glynda sighed "I can't believe that after all this time that damn docking yard is still making trouble for us."

"Fontaine may have been a brash fellow, but he knew his construction." Ozpin commented "If that storm hadn't rolled in when it did, who knows how long he could've kept his operation going for."

"What matters now is getting those people out of there, and those monsters in chains." Ironwood said sternly before turning to the Uruk on the other side of the room "If your friend hadn't been so iffy with his timing we could've gotten there earlier, maybe saved more."

Krimp had been asked to stay in his corner of the Office for the duration of the operation, the Uruk had kept himself busy with more of those childish drawings of his. He'd tried acting like his curiosity wasn't getting the better of him, but the suspicious whistling and the glances he kept shooting them spoke volumes.

At being addressed, the Friendly Uruk had looked in their direction before putting his crayons down and scratching the back of his head "Sorry guys, if I'd known Ukbuk would take that long I would've gone down there and asked him to hurry up for ya!"

"You did fine, Krimp." Ozpin stated as he kept his gaze locked on the screens "We just need to focus on seeing this come to fruition."

"If the updates from Specialist Trost are accurate, we are in full position to launch the assault." the General said with surety "Lets just hope we can get enough people out of this to make up for the hold up."

Watching the screens, the three watched as the Atlesian Infiltrators met back up, with Maxwell taking a headcount before going for his communicator.

Ozpin reached towards his desk and pressed at the blinking dot as soon as it appeared.

"Canisters set," the Specialist's voice said with an air of confidence "we're ready when you are General."

The Professor turned back to Goodwitch and Ironwood, who merely stepped forward "Detonate."

And then all their feeds cut out.

The three stood in shocked silence for a moment before James leaped into action.

Immediately he was at the desk "Specialist Rebon? Igor?" he called out

As Ozpin wiped a growing bit of sweat from his brow, he put a hand to his lip and began analyzing the situation as Glynda turned an angered look on the back of the General.

Watching them, Krimp tilted his head to the side "Somethin' wrong over there, buddies?"

* * *

 **Vale Coast-The Arena**

Standing over a group of defeated Atlesians was a figure, a figure who gave several deep breaths before grinning at his handiwork.

"Wooh boy, ya weren't lyin'!" Entering the room the infiltrators had been congregating in was Ishmol "I thought for sure I'd need to send some of my boys to help you."

The Arena Master knelt beside one of the slain Humans and poked at his helmet "Might want one o' these for myself." he commented cheekily before turning to the figure "The others are waiting for ya, we're ready ta get this show on the road!"

The figure's response was to toss the Slaver the detonator and turn around "Destroy this." he said before leaving.

Ishmol blinked before turning to look down at the Oddly shaped piece of metal in his hands. He examined it for a moment before grinning.

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

"Something's wrong." Ruby said

"Yeah," Fox agreed before pointing towards the screen "weren't they supposed to gas the place after meeting up there?"

The Teams were still watching the red dot, but many had grown confused at its movements.

"Maybe the General's a bit late in sending us the go ahead." Riley said, though she was starting to grow a bit concerned as well. She pulled out her scroll and began dialing "I'll check if there's some kinda communications malfunction or-"

It began ringing before she could finish. She didn't waste time in answering.

"Trost!" Ironwood's voice came through clearly "Are you near a terminal?"

Riley glanced back to the screen the two Teams were gathered around "Yeah."

"Get on and try to link up with Maxwell's Unit."

She paused at that before growing stern in the face "Yes sir, what's happening?" she asked as she pushed past the kids and got to work.

"We've lost contact with Maxwell's Unit, we think someone might've gotten them."

Ruby overheard, her expression darkening a bit. Before she could ask what exactly had gone down a camera feed popped onto the screen.

Riley backed up a bit, surprised, she hadn't been the one to pull that up.

"Wait," Ironwood said over the Scroll "we just got something. Rebon's Helmet-Cam just cut back in."

"We got that here too sir." Riley said as she kept her eyes glued to the screen

"What?"

It was dark, but that changed as the Camera shifted to a hole that seemed to lead to the Arena.

"What's he doing?"

The Camera moved inside, then turned to look down at the Arena from above. The Uruks seemed confused, the confusion multiplied as they noticed the Helmet's owner.

"Oi! What's a human doing here!?" was among the many growls and shouts they began spouting

"Was it one of the Infiltrators?" Weiss commented as the one in the Helmet casually began moving to the seats.

They walked past several Uruks in blue and white body paint and stood beside one in robes before looking down in the Fighting pit.

Inside, two Red themed Uruks were just finishing chaining a certain Faunus's feet to the floor on the other side of the Pit.

"Velvet?!" Fox couldn't hold back as Yatsuhashi and Coco pressed closer to get a better look.

Suddenly the Helmet turned around, revealing the angry face of Maxwell frowning directly into the Camera "As you can see here, you've been outmaneuvered. So let's keep this brief."

Suddenly his eyes shifted, blackness seeping into them before his frown turned into a full on scowl. He opened his mouth again, but it was not Maxwell's voice that came out of it "I am Gundza the Shadow... and I want the Heiress."

Blake immediately stepped back, it had spoken in Maxwell's voice but she'd seen those eyes before "The one who was with Mitch."

"Sir," Riley called into the Scroll "the plan's been compromised."

"I know that, soldier!" Ironwood retorted "Give us a moment to try and work this out."

On the screen Gundza handed the helmet to a nearby Uruk who kept it trained on him, "I've already dealt with your detonator and removed the external triggers. The mind of this man-filth I'm currently residing within proved tough to crack, much tougher than that bastard I worked with last time. But I've had ample time to thoroughly derail your plans."

"That's right folks!"

The Camera was turned to Ishmol, who pointed down at the Possessed Specialist grandly "Seems the Exile's discovered a Tark plan to undo our little get together here."

The Uruks began muttering, most still confused at the Human body wielding an Uruk-Hai title. But that confusion changed as more began realizing the meaning behind the Arena Master's words.

"They was planning ta jump us!" one shouted, as the infuriation spread like wildfire and the state of the Exile's body became much less pressing.

"But we's Uruks lads!' Ishmol laughed "We ain't gonna let this ruin our bit of fun, eh?!"

Various agreements rose up from the crowd.

"If they want a show! Then we'll give 'em one! One that only the Mighty Servants of the Dark Lord could make!"

The Arena Master leaned forward to hear the cheers of the crowd before gesturing back towards the Blue and White Uruks "Thankfully, the Dreamer's Storm brought us a fine little toy to show off for just such an occasion. Folks, may I present the Shaman's Entry in today's festivities."

"You see, my first plan failed because I thought a bunch of guns and human shields would be enough to lure the murderous wench into my clutches." Gundza said as the camera pointed back to him "So after the hybrid thoroughly ruined that plan I immediately swallowed my pride and sought the assistance of the most powerful Uruks I knew of."

He gestured to the Robed Uruk before folding his arms "After explaining, the Shaman here was more than willing to aid me as long as I did it with flair."

The Shaman merely nodded without turning his gaze from the fighting pit. Another large blue and white Uruk in a raincoat climbed out, can of spray paint in hand. He nodded to the Shaman as the Red Uruks also scaled the sides of the Fighting Pit, leaving Velvet to stare in fear at something on the other side directly across from her.

The Helmet was moved until that something was made clearer, a Dreamer Gate had already been painted onto the wall of the Arena across from Velvet and was already burning.

"And with their help I've set up a battle that none of the Tarks we have here could ever hope to win on their own." Gundza stated

The Portal activated, and almost immediately a shocking sight leaped out.

An Alpha Beowolf, covered head to toe in thick looking Armor plating.

It immediately lunged for Velvet, held back only by a plethora of thick chains attached to something on the other side of the portal.

"That's..." Riley narrowed her eyes "What did they..?"

"If I may." the Uruk holding the Helmet spoke, Gundza rolled his eyes as the Helmet was turned to focus on the Alpha in all its violent glory "This delightful beastie is one of my personal favorites. It took a dozen Uruks to restrain it, but I believe it was worth it. I told the Shaman it'd take years if not more to find a way to induce subservience in the Creatures of Grimm, as they prove even more stubborn than the beasts of our land. He, however, decided not to focus on struggling to tame them, and merely to focus on making an already deadly beast even deadlier."

"Boys..." Ishmol shouted with no small amount of dramatization "May I present the Shaman's very own entry into our bout today! The Armored Alpha!"

The Beast thrashed in its bindings, reaching forward with one claw to slash at the air. Each claw seemed to be reinforced with solid metal, no doubt upping the rending power of an already formidable foe. With its limbs and body almost completely suited with armor, save for is joints which were left bare in many places to no doubt retain as much mobility as possible, it seemed more like a Robot than a creature of Grimm. As the Uruks cheered for the Storm's creation, it opened its mouth and howled. The Grimm's angular helmet even had sharp protrusions running along the jaws, giving it a second row of deadly teeth.

"And now, that very beast is going to be fed the contenders of this Tournament one by one." Gundza stated to roars of approval "Unless..."

Now that gave several of the Orcs pause, as they'd been hyping themselves up for a tournament turned execution.

Gundza took the moment of silence to finish "You deliver the Heiress here to me."

Ruby looked down beside her, seeing Weiss's hands balling into fists as she glared towards the screen.

"An heiress? What's he talkin' about?"

It seemed that much of the Audience were unaware of who exactly Gundza was speaking of.

Eyeing the back of the Shaman, the Possessed man steeled himself before stepping towards the edge of the pit and calling out "You wonder who this heiress is?! he roared "She is the White Tark who slaid the brother of Hork of the Black Gate. The Murderer of Ashgarn the All-Eater, and the one who must face true Uruk-Hai justice today!"

"She's the one who killed the Glutton?"

"Heard she gored him on a prissy little blade!"

"She ain't dead already?"

"Sounds like she will be soon mate!"

The students all stared at the screen as the Uruks began chanting, chanting for blood, they didn't care who's as long as they got it.

Riley bit back a curse and walked off with the scroll.

Gundza turned back to the Camera and folded his arms over his chest "I want that Tark here and in chains within the Hour, after that this Beastie here gets a feeding frenzy. Now if ya want you can still try attacking, but without your gas we both know you ain't got much of a chance now do you? One... Hour."

Then the feed cut out after the Uruk holding onto the Helmet dropped it the floor and crushed it under his boot.

* * *

 **Beacon Academy**

Ironwood slammed his fists onto the desk "Damn it!"

"Can't you just detonate those canisters from here?!" Glynda shouted

"Do you think I haven't tried?!" Ironwood turned on her before pointing towards the screen "That thing is in the head of an Atlesian Specialist, if he really has gotten through to Maxwell then he has more than enough knowledge to disable the long range transmitters."

The General's frown deepened as he looked down in thought "But when did he get in contact with the Storm? Records say he hadn't left Vale at all before the mission."

"They must have people in the city that he contacted."

Glynda and the General turned towards Ozpin, who kept a concerned glare locked onto the screens before him "A troubling thought for later. For now, we have to focus on finding a way to salvage this operation."

"Oz," Ironwood stood tall "we cannot give in to their demands."

"I have no doubt in my mind that they'd merely kill their captives even if we _did_ give her to them." Ozpin sighed before lowering his gaze "A full blown hostage situation, the one thing these stealth procedures are designed to counter."

"We have to get in there before they start feeding people to that thing." Glynda stated

"The whole point of the gas was to lower their numbers!" James retorted "We don't have the man power to beat them in a straight forward, prolonged battle. And that Grimm of theirs..."

"Only Uruks would entertain the insane notion of armoring Grimm." Glynda bit before looking at Ozpin "What are we going to do?"

As the three tried to come up with a way out of this precarious situation, they failed to notice that Krimp had stopped drawing. And instead was staring down at his drawings in relative silence.

"Ashy's... dead?"

He whispered it under his breath, thoughts floating through his head at a rapid pace as his smile melted into a saddened look. Placing his crayons on the ground, Krimp reached for his many drawings...

...and began turning them over.

* * *

 **Vale Coast-Attack Camp**

"We have to get her now!" Coco said

Riley sighed as she shook her head, eyes moving to each of the Team CFVY Members before her "Look, I know how having a teammate in danger feels, Velvet wouldn't want you guys putting yourselves in danger for her."

"We weren't there for her in the past," Yatsuhashi stated "I won't let that happen again."

"We're doing what we can guys." Riley sighed just as several Soldiers came by, asking for explanations "Look just stay by the terminal with Ruby and them, we'll figure something out."

As the Specialist went to speak to the troops, Coco lowered her glasses. Turning back to her teammates, she turned to see the unsettled look on Yatsuhashi's face and the sheer discomfort radiating from Fox.

"Welp, guess we have no choice, eh guys?" she said before both she and the large Sword-Wielder turned to stare at Fox. The Dark-Skinned boy merely sighed before leading them away.

Back near the Terminal, Blake was keeping her eyes locked on a still frame of Maxwell's form.

"Its definitely him." she reaffirmed

"The madman who hijacked the bus, correct?" Weiss asked, after receiving a nod from Blake she observed him more "I wonder if he truly believes we'd be stupid enough to comply to his ridiculous demands."

"If I hadn't let him get away last time..." Blake sighed

"Hush up about that." Weiss stated "Instead how about you help me figure out a way to stop him?"

Blake locked eyes with the heiress for a moment before nodding "Okay, we know that his semblance allows him to take over a person's Aura, and while fighting him I noticed that depleting it makes it easier to knock him out of them."

"What exactly does he look like outside of someone?"

Blake paused there and thought about it "I... don't think I got a good enough look at him during our last encounter. From Krimp's drawing he's supposed to be thin. And He uses spears."

"But it just doesn't feel right..."

The White and Black duo turned to Ruby, who'd been staring at the Terminal intently for a while now.

"What Gundza said, it doesn't add up." the sniper muttered

"Ruby?" Weiss began just as she heard Riley yell

"Are you kidding me?!" The Atlas Specialist pinched the bridge of her nose as she glared down at the Atlesian Pilot.

"I'm sorry ma'am, they slipped into the ship and took off before any of the Techs could get to them." he said sheepishly "At their speed they'll be at the Arena in a minute or two."

"How did you guys even let this happen!? I mean, which one of them can even fly..." the Woman paused at that and groaned before letting her hand fall back to her side "These kids..."

"Riley!"

She turned back to see Ruby rushing over with her teammates at her side "What is it Ruby? We're kind of in a crisis here."

"I know but they messed up, Riley!" the Huntress-In-Training shouted before screeching to a stop before the Atlesian "We still have a way to win this!"

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

Krosh growled at Ratlug, who was picking through the remains of the Atlesian's helmet with curiosity practically radiating off of him "What the hell is this ya old husk!? I thought the whole point of this was to win the Tournament!"

"At first it was," the Swordsmith answered casually before standing and nodding towards the Exile who was walking off to shout to the crowd more and encourage their bloodlust "But then our buddy there got in contact with some of Ogthrak's boys. Next thing I know I'm putting my main project on hold to finish the Armored Alpha."

"Then why did we even enter anyone?"

"To test them of course! Your training against my engineering, of course it doesn't amount to much given the fact that neither of our entries would've been able to stand against a beast such as this."

"Why didn't anyone tell me!?"

"You have... your father's mouth..." The Shaman began breathing out in his odd manner "But also... potential liability..."

Krosh actually fumed at that "I wouldn't have ruined anything! I'm just as loyal as the next guy, Boss!"

"Your Father recommended... not to tell you..."

As he'd expected, his Elder's penchant for screwing with him would reach even this far huh? And the only reason the Shaman would acquiesce to a recommendation like that...

"Don't like..?" The Shaman turned to him "Fight him..."

The Warmonger blanched as Ratlug grinned down at him.

"That is... if you think you... could take him."

Krosh looked between the two for a moment, before looking down and shrugging "Nah, ain't worth it." he stated before standing and walking off "If we're done here, I'm at least gonna grab Lady. She doesn't stand a chance against that thing on her own, would rather all my work at least have some payoff."

He tried acting as if he could just brush off being deceived in such a manner, but both the Shaman and the Swordsmith could see his hands balling into fists as he walked off.

With that, Ratlug focused on the Armored Alpha once more. He took note of the Storm Leader watching the back of his spawn as he left "My apologies Master, he's simply not dimwitted enough to bite at bait that soon."

"You two fighting... would've been so... entertaining." the Robed Uruk sighed before returning his gaze to the subdued Faunus "Despite... the outcome."

"He wouldn't stand a chance sir, we both know that. He knows that. I'm actually fairly certain he's going down there to kill Mug as some form of petty vengeance."

"No concern... Rock-Crusher would've been killed... anyway."

"Even so, I hope the young fool doesn't mess up those gauntlets too much, I worked hard on th-"

Suddenly a blast from above interrupted him.

The Chanting Uruks halted immediately to shout and yell about it, as even Gundza stepped to the edge of the pit to glare as three figures descended into the Arena.

Velvet tried to stare down the Armored Alpha as it thrashed in its bindings to get at her, tried staring it down until what she was positive would be the bitter end. Even with what Aura she managed to regain, there was no way that she could even hope to last against a beast like that. If her feet were unrestrained then maybe she could dodge it for some time but... like this... she'd been served to the monster on a silver platter.

The Faunus tried to find some kind of peace, find some kind of solace in the face of such a savage end to her only burgeoning life. They say the worst thing that could happen to one on their death bed is to be wracked by regrets before their passing. But the chants of the Audience, the roars for her to be maimed and defiled, there was nothing she could do to hold back the thoughts that crammed themselves into her skull. Thoughts about what she wanted to do with her life, the people she wanted to save after graduating with her team, the things she'd never get to do now...

It hurt...

Even as the Grimm's metal and bony jaws snapped violently at her over and over, she considered the pain currently coursing through her veins to be tenfold the misery that the Grimm could ever inflict. This was the pain of regrets at the end... wasn't it?

She'd been so wrought with grief that she almost missed the blast from above, but that grief immediately turned to shock when she recognized those descending towards her.

All at once, the rest of Team CFVY landed around her with the usual stylish flair. Weapons readied and pointed towards the Grimm before them, Velvet thought for only a second that she'd finally succumbed to the stress of her situation and was deluding herself just like Skak.

But then Coco turned around to grin at her "Hey Hon, sorry we're late."

The Faunus blinked once she realized the Audience was reacting to her supposed delusions as well "...Guys?"

"Hey who else? Fox, help me with these chains."

As Yatsuhashi continued staring down the Armored Alpha, Fox and Coco ran to Velvet's sides "Wait... what are you guys doing here?!"

"Aw, we couldn't just leave you to face this thing on your own." the Fashionista said before shrugging "I actually find it concerning you didn't expect this. Maybe I really wasn't as supportive as I-"

"Less talking," Fox bit "help me cut these things woman!"

Up above, both the Shaman and his Captains were leaning forwards in their seats "Hn?... How interesting..." he said slowly before turning to Gundza, who was staring down with open shock spread across his face "did you... plan for-?"

"I never anticipated them to just run dick first into the maws of a beast that intimidating." the Shadow grunted before putting his hands on his hips and growling "A-Plus for moxy, F-Minus for Survival Instinct."

The Shaman hummed at that before glancing to Ratlug "Doctor?"

But the Swordsmith was already tapping away at a scroll "On it boss! If these kiddies wanna play with my pet so much then we'll just have ta make this execution a four-way."

Back down below, Fox's gauntlets made quick work of the chains thanks to some precise striking.

"You guys should've just left me," Velvet said as she felt herself lifted off her feet "how did you even-"

She was silenced once a familiar box was pressed into her hands.

"I ain't much of a photographer like you, Vel." Coco admitted before walking beside Yatsuhashi and letting her own box begin shifting "But I hope what's in there'll be enough to take this sucker down."

"The world wouldn't have lost much if it was just me, guys!"

"Quiet."

Velvet blinked at the suddenly stern word which had been uttered by their resident silent giant.

Without taking his gaze off the thrashing Armored Alpha, Yatsuhashi spoke evenly "We weren't there for you when you needed us before. I don't believe I could've lived with myself if I didn't step in. I believe the same could be said for our cohorts."

"Yeah yeah big guy, love and kindness and all that." Fox waved it off as he nodded forward "Mind focusing on the tank of a Grimm that's about to probably kill us all?"

"Heh," their leader shook her head "Fox my man, we triggered so many red flags at this point I don't even think worrying about it'll help anymore."

"You guys..." Velvet wiped some of her tears from her eyes before tightening her grip on the case "I... Thank You."

"Might wanna hold on to that thanks until we somehow find a way out of this." Fox swallowed nervously

At that moment, the Dreamer Gate closed, cutting the chains holding back the Armored Alpha, who released a massive Roar as it charged the Team with its razor sharp claws swinging in full force.

As the sounds of metal clashing with metal and minigun fire began filling the Arena, the owner of said Arena looked down from the catwalk above took it in stride "Seems we get one final battle after all lads! Let's see how long these Tarks can last!"

With that the Crowd erupted in chants and shouts once more.

* * *

 **Beacon Academy- Ozpin's Office**

"Those three, willing to risk their lives to prove their developing loyalty." Ozpin sighed after the three Instructors listened to Riley's latest Update "At any other time I would show my undying support of such a venture, however in a time such as this."

"They better hope they die out there," Glynda scoffed "nothing that thing could do to them could measure up the hell I'm going to put them through if they somehow manage to survive their own idiocy."

"That's what I was about to do too," the Specialist's voice came through on one of the desks many hovering screens "but then Ms. Rose told me something I think is of greater import. General, the Detonator is still transmitting."

"What?" Suddenly Ironwood pushed past both Ozpin and Ms. Goodwitch before tapping at the desk's screens "How is that possible?"

"So what?" Glynda asked after brushing herself off and folding her arms "If what you said is true then that Monster's already dealt with-"

"No, you don't understand." the General said quickly before bringing up the same screen showing the layout of the Arena, where a blinking dot was still present "But... there it is. It's still active and primed, they haven't destroyed it."

"But didn't he say-?"

"He must not know it's still active." Ozpin mused before turning to Ironwood "James, I do believe we've been given a second chance."

The General was silent for a moment before nodding and staring at the screen sternly "We have to Bull Rush them."

"We what?!" Glynda was unimpressed with the results of this line of dialogue

"We need to get that detonator and activate it before they notice its still working." James said before leaning closer to the desk "Hear that Specialist Trost? Get everyone on those ships and get to the Arena as fast possible!"

"But you yourself said that there was no way that your forces could stand up to their numbers." Ms. Goodwitch pointed out

"We don't, that's why its called a bull rush. In a prolonged battle we don't have a chance, which is why we use what we do have to hold the majority of them while someone, literally anyone gets that detonator and activates the gas canisters."

"Why can't we just send another small group then?"

"Because if the map says anything, then that Detonator is right there in the thick of those things." Ironwood frowned before turning back to the Screen and saying

"Stealth is no longer an option."

* * *

Gundza watched the four students dip and dive around the Armored Alpha's deadly claws, constantly repositioning and retaliating against the Grimm's attacks. They seemed to be trying to go for the obviously less defended joints of the beast, but the Beowolf was simply moving too fast for them to land some good hits.

But that wasn't what was upsetting him, the beast would overwhelm them eventually, it was something else.

"Aw, things not going quite how you'd like it?"

He growled as he turned to see Ratlug approaching with both hands stuffed into the pockets of that ridiculous piece of tark clothing he seemed to insist on wearing.

"Even if your little ultimatum doesn't really pan out, just look at all the Uruks we've managed to entice today!" the Fake Doctor gestured around them "You helped many of our brothers today with that talent of yours. Just think of what would've happened if you hadn't told us of their scheming!"

"It would still mean nothing without the Girl. I do not like relying on any of you, but if they refuse to give her to me then I can only trust your backup plan will hold fruit."

"Of course it will, but even you can't say that there are no other benefits to the foiling of their plan. So many Uruks now have you in their good graces, it should be a simple thing to replace those Prowlers of yours."

Gundza grumbled a bit at that before turning to the Swordsmith "Are you positive those bodies were theirs?"

"Indeed, from the looks of it they were killed while throwing a party at the Talos Mine. I'm not much of a betting sort but I could hazard a guess that the smoke of their cooking fires led the White Fang directly to them."

"Lived as imbeciles, died as imbeciles." Gundza shook his head before refocusing on the fight below "I can only hope they put up some kind of fight before they met their end."

"You couldn't have expected them to be too effective now could you?" Ratlug asked with a smile before leaning closer "After all, none of them are like that old partner of yours, eh?"

"We weren't partners, and don't speak of him." Gundza growled before regaining his composure and breathing deeply "I only wish to finish my business here and leave with the Girl without having to encounter that joke of what was once a respectable soldier."

"I'm actually surprised he isn't here right now." Ratlug stood tall and began scanning the audience "I'm positive he was here before you made your ultimatum. I wonder where he's gone off to?"

"Are you purposefully trying to jinx me?"

"No no laddie! Why would I ever do such a thing?" the Fake Doctor denied the accusation with about as much authenticity as a Ghul pretending to be human, then grew a curious look as he ran his eyes over Maxwell's body "Look, I just came over here because I was a tad thoughtful, and wanted to get a good answer from ya before ya ran off."

"So those compliments earlier were just to butter me up, eh?"

"If you wish to look at it that way. I merely wish to know what ya plan on doing with the human once you've no more use for him. The storm is always grateful for contributions, the Arena master would just waste such a fine specimen brawling."

"If ya want him, you can have him once I get the girl." Gundza replied with no hesitance "Soon as she's mine I plan on gettin' in her and walking her pretty little neck directly to the choppin' block so she doesn't have a chance t-"

Before the Shadow could finish his sentence, fast movement from above drew his attention. Careening in from one of the side holes leading to the Arena was one of Ishmol's drunks, panting loudly and looking panicked beyond belief. Almost immediately the drunkard began shouting over the crowd towards Ishmol himself. He was relatively close, but the noise of the crowd deafened his initial words. Luckily, those who were close enough immediately quieted and his words soon reached the Exile's ears.

"Ships incoming boss! Its pinkskins! They's comin'! Its the Tarks!"

Soon the members of the audience who heard began mimicking the Uruk one by one until most the attendees were already out of their seats and reaching for their weapons at the mention of an incoming battle.

"Well... that sounds troublesome." Ratlug commented idly before quickly moving back in the Shaman's direction.

But Gundza didn't care, he was shocked at the tactic chosen. Despite how obviously idiotic and inferior Tarks were they had a bad habit of staying stubborn. While undercover he'd become more than aware that the numbers of Uruks in attendance made a straight forward brawl near suicidal in the long run. He'd considered it one of the final resorts they'd turn to. He knew his thorough unraveling of their plan would force them to try something stupidly drastic, but he'd pictured them trying several other things before throwing caution to the wind and just shoving all their forces in here like cows to a slaughter.

The words finally reached Ishmol, standing above the seats with his grin growing wider at the news. He gestured to his two drunken bodyguards, who began pulling boxes of matches and glasses of grog from their pouches, before turning to the Audience and shouting "Seems the humans want to give us more heads to decorate with boys! Get out your blades and ya clubs and the works! Time to show these bigshots why we ruled Mordor, and why we will rule this land too!"

Though the rest of the Uruks shouted in war cries and the beats of weapons on Armor, Gundza instead felt his face contort in open horror. For when Ishmol turned to address the crowd, Gundza finally focused on him enough to see it, and he immediately knew why the pinkskins had chosen this dick-first tactic.

Several thoughts ran through his head at once, mostly seething anger at both the Arena Master and himself.

Himself because he'd never once told the Brewer how important it was to destroy the Detonator. He'd expected the diligence of a soldier, for the thing to be in pieces seconds after he'd issued the order, but Ishmol wasn't a damn soldier. He covered it up a lot but everyone knew that at heart he was just a brewer and a collector, using slaves and liquor to keep his lack of actual battle sense from making him appear too weak. Someone who used to serve the Black Gate shouldn't have been so quick to trust some pretender with something so important, had the rush of downing the infiltrators really distracted him from such an integral piece of his plan?!

And the anger he dedicated to the Arena Master was generated mainly because not only had that pretending fool foregone destroying the damn detonator...

...but also because he was now literally wearing the fucking thing like a goddamn badge of honor right on his chest!

So in the end, the only thought that managed to work its way into actual speech before the Arena was turned into a Warzone was:

"ISHMOL YOU STUPID, RANCID PIECE OF SH-"

Gundza's wrathful shout was canceled out as dozens more holes were blasted into the ceiling and AK-Units began spilling out of them weapons raised.

Their guns began firing as they descended into the waiting Uruks below.

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

 _Why wasn't this thing breaking already!?_

It was the thought Yang found herself asking as she pummeled the gate over and over, fist flying into it again and again only for it to somehow stubbornly stay set. Even with the initial dent that Muggrish had put in it, the sturdiness of these bars must've been the icing on top of the filthy cake she'd been force fed ever since Bubol had outplayed her. She'd stopped using her shotgun shells soon after realizing she was just wasting ammo, and she didn't want to waste much while there were plenty of Uruks to beat down.

If she ever made it out of this, no longer will she question how Uncle Qrow manages to be effective while drunk eighty-seven percent of the time. Because if Ishmol's alcohol laced underlings managed to build this, then obviously there was a hidden technique to being wasted that she clearly hasn't found yet.

Even so, shockingly resilient metal could only stand up to the inferno that was Yang for so long. She kept at it and, just after the strange sounds of blasts from above made her worry even more for Velvet's safety, she finally felt it starting to give. Another bash, this had to be it.

Finally the door was slammed off its hinges, colliding with the cage parallel to hers. She took a small second to congratulate herself before stepping forward.

But before she could make it even two steps from her cell, the large room's door opened and in came yet another example of the worst timing in history.

Krosh tossed an empty bottle of Grog to the side as he entered with a yawn.

He opened his eyes to find Yang out of her cage glaring at him, then promptly turned to Muggrish's empty cage.

"Huh, I see my Old Man's pet's gone." he commented before glancing down at the Rock-Crusher's broken muzzle "You had anything to do with that, Lady?"

The Brawler raised an eyebrow at that reaction before relaxing her hands and stepping farther out of her cage "I might've."

"Hope the old bastard flips his lid when he realizes he's gone." the Warmonger shrugged with a smirk before turning back to the door and gesturing for her to follow "Come on, sounds like something's going on up-"

The Uruk suddenly leaned forward and let a shotgun round pass directly past his head before it slammed into the side of the door frame. In an instant he spun around and raised his arms to intercept a flurry of punches, his bracers allowing him to block the repeated blows fairly simply until Yang leaned back a bit before firing another round at him. Out of his reach, Krosh swung an arm forward and a thin blade extended from the bottom his bracer and caught the arm just as it was preparing to fire.

The slash forced her arm into the air where the round was harmlessly fired into the ceiling, and the two backed away from each other.

"Was hoping you'd try to fight," the Warmonger sneered before flexing his arms a bit "Pop's pissed me off more than I'd like to admit. Feels good having a punching bag at the ready."

"Wrist-blades?" Yang nodded towards his bracers "Since when do you use wrist-blades?"

"Ever since I got 'em from a dead tark a while back." He said before raising his fists "You really thought I'd use weapons when training a human of all things?"

Frowning, Yang matched his stance with one of her own "Just don't expect a new trick to help you against me."

At that the Uruk tilted his head and lowered his arms "I don't do tricks, Lady. I'm a warrior, in fact..."

Saying that he reached down and began rolling up his own trousers, drawing a confused look from the Brawler until she spotted a second pair of bracers on his lower legs.

And as soon as he finished rolling up the legs of his trousers, he stood and raised his fists again...

...just as dozens of large spikes extended from the surface of his leg bracers.

Yang tried not to look as shocked as she was.

"One good thing I can say about that damn Elder o' mine is that his toys never fail to impress." Krosh commented idly as he watched his brace spikes distend then re-extend, he then glanced back towards Yang "That's all of my tricks Lady, so don't go whining about 'em after I still mop the floor with you."

Without warning he launched into a spin that would've startled Yang if she hadn't anticipated a sudden attack like it. Gritting her teeth, the Blonde cocked both gauntlets as a spike-laden leg sped towards her.

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

Ishga had tried desperately to catch up on what was going on.

He was fine when the three young Tarks interrupted what was supposed to be a hostage situation. He was fine when word began spreading of something incoming.

But then the metal men began raining from the ceiling, and everything seemed to devolve from there.

The first Uruks made quick work of the Metal Men which first reached them, but then the next few came with the far more agile and well-trained Atlesian Soldiers.

Ishga had lived through battles far more numerous and hazardous than this in his life, despite the commendable size of Ishmol's Arena and the number of Uruks, Menfolk, and machines, this didn't even make the top five. However, the Veteran couldn't exactly let loose on the impudent children while also keeping his Master in sight. He and Skak were currently cutting down anything that got within five feet of Dreamer, who seemed to be deliberating with himself over something unknown while observing the growing madness around them.

Ishga blocked several bullets with his spear before swinging it into an incoming AK-Unit's legs. He pulled the droid's legs out from under it and dodged several retaliatory dust rounds before jamming his weapon into its head.

As he was pulling his spear free, he noticed the Atlesian soldier behind him far too late. But as he turned to try and defend, another AK-Unit went sailing into the Atlesian and brought them both to the ground.

Before he could check on who had thrown the robot, Skak leaped on the two downed enemies whooping and hollering as he began mauling them with his Axe "Aw this is great Ish! Just a bunch of bloodsacks walking around and waiting for us to cut 'em open!"

"Just focus on the Master, you maggot!" Ishga shouted as he turned and raised his spear before sending it flying.

The Spear sped past Tugog before burying itself in the chest plate of another AK-Unit who'd tried to get the drop on him. The droid stumbled before grabbing at the spear with its free hand and raising its gun with the other. Ishga lunged towards it, ducking under the first few bullets and grabbing hold of the spear before swinging it and the robot into the fighting pit below.

Letting out a breath, Ishga grabbed another spear from the sack on his back just as a voice called out behind him "Dreamer, I can make us a Gate back to the Tower."

Glancing behind him, the Blood-Storm saw his brother had apparently made his way through the brawl and was now kneeling before the Warchief "I can set it up nice and quick, but we need to make it out of this melee first."

"Then I suppose we shall make way then." Tugog said with a shrug

"But sir!" Ishga yelled out "What about the girl? If she ain't gonna be executed-"

"Leave her to the Shaman's pet, getting between them would be more trouble than its worth at this point." the Dreameer said with a sigh before turning away "Besides, we had us a back up plan for a turnout like this."

Up above on the catwalk which formed the uppermost portion of the Arena, Ishmol watched with odd glee as the battle raged on. Small little skirmishes were starting to form between those who'd separated from the main brawl in the stands, Atlesian soldiers and their mechs against the entirety of his Audience just made for such juicy fun. He noted Dreamer and his boys make a break for it, but paid them no mind. His eyes traveled over to the Shaman, who's attention seemed primarily focused on the Armored Alpha. He and Ratlug both watched the Grimm take on the four students while Ogthrak quite literally pulverized anything that got near them.

Behind him the two Drunks, Tuvor and Mozu, were fending off any stray droid that tried their luck. Having coated both their halberd blades in grog and set them ablaze, anything so much as pricked was quickly turned into a man-sized candle before being shoved away. Sitting nice and pretty with his bodyguards while the crowd who'd been partaking of his Arena got to joyously tear into the stupid tarks who thought they could take advantage of him, with both the Storm's favor and a recipe for better Grog under his belt, and he had a nice shiny new medal to boot.

Yep, the Arena Master's life was on the up and up.

While basking in how good of a day it'd been, he spotted something odd among next wave of incoming attackers. Nothing too odd, a group of lady tarks with weird weapons.

What was odd was how the woman at the head of them immediately pointed at him.

"There he is! Grab the Detonator and we take this day, ladies!"

They landed on another section of the catwalk, but had a relatively clear shot to Ishmol due to the mass number of skirmishers keeping most of the Uruks out of their way. Riley barely gave the three students following her a chance to nod their acknowledgments. Once they landed, the Specialist immediately took off for the Arena Master, the girls having to tear their gazes from the brawls around them to follow behind.

Ishmol took note of their approach and clapped loudly to get the attention of his two Bodyguards "Oi! We got somethin' incomin' boys!"

Tuvor and Mozu both stepped in front of him shields raised and burning halberds at the ready.

Even with the Shield-Bearers, it shouldn't have been possible for them to hold up against an assault from both a Specialist and three huntresses in the making. If only that spear hadn't come at that exact moment.

"Weiss, incoming!"

Despite hearing Ruby's shout and trying to slow down, it was Blake grabbing onto the Heiress's shoulders and yanking her back that caused the long projectile to miss its mark.

Before the three could move to catch up to Riley, the familiar form of their recent Handler darted in front of them spear at the ready.

Riley bit back a curse at the sight before refocusing her gaze on the Drunks before her, and Ishmol standing past them with a grin spread wide across his face.

As she closed the distance and reached inside her uniform for something, Tuvor thrusted his halberd towards her. Riley leaped over the burning weapon and drew a disk as she sailed over him. Ishmol's smile vanished as she flew over him before landing and spinning as the disk grew to about the size of a plate.

She launched the disk immediately while he was still distracted, only for Mozu to lunge in front of his boss and have the disk bounce off his shield.

Riley caught the disk with a frown as Ishmol regained a cocky smile "Gonna have to try better then that, lass. Boys, be good little dears and bring me her head."

The Specialist readied her disk as the Drunks charged her.

Meanwhile, the three members of Team RWBY faced down the possessed Maxwell, who raised his spear and glared at them while standing between them and the brawl the Specialist had just involved herself in.

"So it seems your gods have gifted you a second chance." Gundza grumbled as he held one hand behind his back and pointed his weapon towards Weiss "No matter, all I really need is her anyway. The rest of these Chiefless scum are nothing."

"I don't suppose we'll have to explain why exactly that's not happening." the Schnee commented

"You had trouble going up against two huntsmen in training last time." Blake pointed out "How exactly do you plan on getting her?"

The Shadow's frown deepened at that.

It had been what she was wondering ever since he'd issued his ultimatum. She and Sun managed to overcome him and Mitch because unlike the Uruk, Mitch didn't have the ability to defend himself as well. And that was after he'd driven the goon to helping him. Maxwell was a strict and stiff soldier of high caliber, there was no way it would've been the same as taking over an addict. There was no way he'd be able to partially release Maxwell in order to pull half of the things he'd tried last time she'd encountered him. If anything, fighting while inside someone more stubborn like the Atlesian should be a negative while fighting multiple enemies.

And from the hateful glare he was giving, he had to know this. Which means he had to have some form of counter-

Immediately he whipped a horn from behind his back and brought it towards his mouth, before he could blow it however, it was sent flying from his hand.

None of the girls had moved quick enough to shoot it, so they joined Gundza in staring at the horn in confusion as it zipped away.

It zipped over to the end of a wrist-mounted crossbow, the grapple clutching it released the horn into an open sore-covered hand "Need some help Gundzie? Why call for the boys first." the grapple's owner said as he walked past several fights to them "All ya need is lil' old me."

Of course it would be Bubol.

Even Gundza seemed to get a sickened look in his eyes as the Diseased Archer sauntered over "You..."

"I was just helping out an old pal, he lost a bet ya see. Wanted to know if he needed some good ol' comfortin' after a loss like that. But then I start hearing blasts and guns and now there's robots and tarks everywhere." the lunatic cooed as he approached "And who would I find amongst all this chaos but one of my favourite old pals, hangin' out with my new favourite tark."

Weiss noted Ruby's grip on Crescent Rose tightening as he spoke of her.

"You two... know each other?" the Red Head began

"Know each other? I'm the one who taught this fella how to use a crossbow." Bubol said before laughing to himself

"You are not the Uruk who showed me how to wield the weapons of range." Gundza spat "As far as I know that Uruk died in that cave with his captain. You're just a repugnant shell of his former glory."

"Oh buddy, I'm hurt." the Archer smiled before turning from him to the girls "But enough about the past, I hear you want the white one. As long as me and that delicious little red head get a second chance to dance I don't right care what you take."

"Why..?"

Bubol gave Ruby a questioning look as she glared at him.

"Why do you care about me so much?!"

"Because we're destined for each other of course!"

Even her rage couldn't hold up to the sheer disgust that formed inside her as Bubol uttered the words.

"It was a feeling that began a growin' when Ashy died. Every time I've been pleasured since then my thoughts always turn back to the image of your cute little face scrunched up in misery. I figured that Ashy was fated to die, that your pasty friend was fated to kill him so that we could meet!"

"Pasty!?"

"I do believe this is what you humans call love, sweetness." Bubol said with a giggle "And can ya blame me? Just watching you look upon me with such open and thorough contempt riles me to levels I never once believed I'd reach. You just look so delectable right now."

"Disease!" Gundza growled as he gripped his own weapon in both hands "If you wish to aid me then so be it, but try not to sicken me with your filth in the process."

"But can ya blame me Gundzie?!" Bubol laughed before gesturing forth with his free hand "Just look at her damn it. Everything about her just begs to be defiled in all the worst ways!"

"Bubol!" Weiss began, but he paid her no heed

"How much of it did ya get from your parents, my love?! Are you just as delicious as them!?"

"I suggest you silence yourself before-"

"Oh do be quiet, dear." Bubol finally turned his gaze on her "Not to say I wouldn't ruin you the same way as lover girl here, darling. But at the moment you're ruining my reunion."

"Both of you need to calm down." Blake interjected before the Heiress could retaliate, having Gambol Shroud shift into its pistol form as she spoke "He's just trying to buy time for the others to whittle down their opponents."

Weiss and Ruby seemed to be snapped from their anger at that, even Gundza seemed a bit surprised at the revelation.

"What? Really?" he turned to the diseased Archer "That... was actually tactically sound there."

"Hn?" Bubol glanced to him "Sorry Gundzie, did you say something? I was distracted by those delectable skirts of theirs."

"Damn it, Bubol!" the Shadow turned on him, "I can't tell if you're being a tactical genius or a flesh-crazed pervert right now!"

"Oh come now, old friend." the Lunatic sighed happily "Why can't I be both?"

Just as he finished a gunshot prompted the Archer to lean out of the way as a bullet whizzed past his ear. Before he could retaliate, the blunt end of a spear found his gut.

Gundza gritted his teeth before lifting the archer up and lobbing him towards the girls with his weapon.

Bubol grinned as he spun towards them, firing bolts wildly while bringing the stolen horn towards his lips and blowing.

The girls scattered out of the way of his shots, but once he sailed past them he fired his hook which grabbed hold of Crescent Rose and dragged Ruby back with him.

Blake moved to help, when the sound of incoming footsteps made her bring Gambol Shroud up instead to deflect a jab of a spear. Gundza raised a foot and kicked at her, only for a clone to shatter as she leaped back from him. He moved to pursue when he noticed someone trying to run past him.

He swung back and caught Weiss in the foot with his spear, yanking the limb out from under her and bringing her to the ground before she could even get close to the fight Riley was stuck in.

Realizing her position, Weiss rolled to the side as the spear stabbed towards her.

Blake took aim and prepared to fire on the possessed man, they just needed to break through his aura then Gundza should be easier to dislodge. Before she could pull the trigger, a voice reached her ears.

"The horn, lads! It calls!"

One of the other Uruks had apparently finished off the AK-Unit he'd been contending with and immediately made for the horn he'd heard.

"It came from here, more tarks to bleed!"

This came from one of two other Uruks who dragged the upper torso of another droid with them as they made their way over. Seems Bubol had managed to call in some reinforcements for them. The thought of the Archer immediately brought her attention to Bubol, who had succeeded in isolating Ruby from the rest of them. The Diseased Uruk was currently slipping out of the way of Crescent Rose as Ruby slashed at him, several of the Uruks were moving to aid him as well.

This wasn't good.

Blake was forced back to her own situation as the two Uruks dropped the bisected AK-Unit and charged her.

Ruby swung Crescent Rose furiously, the sick grin spread across the decrepit monster's face spurring her on harder.

"Come on you little tease," he cooed before grappling past her and firing several more bolts "hurt me harder!"

After slashing the projectiles down Ruby dashed forward, but Bubol merely rolled under the first swing and came up firing another bolt back at her. She leaned out of its way and slashed again, but he merely leaped over the blade and cackled before folding his arms "Oh dear, maybe you'll have a better chance at hitting them, sweetness."

A roar from her side prompted her to slide to the side as another Uruk chopped at her, she swung Crescent Rose down and nearly crushed him under it before dashing out of the way of two more.

Bubol cheered her on as she contended with the two, "Beat them harder! Harder! Put that tight little body to work you damned divine temptress!" he yelled whilst openly salivating over her.

Ruby tried her best to focus on the Uruks, but his words simply fanned the growing anger inside her. As one of her attackers leaped towards her, she dashed past him and swung back, swiping his legs out from under him and twirling her scythe until its blunt end slammed into his head as he tried to rise. Still twirling, she conked the other in the jaw and reared back with her weapon while he was reeling. By the time he turned back to growl at her, she was already mid-swing.

Crescent Rose slammed into him with enough force to send him sailing into the air before slamming into one of the seats on the other side of the fighting pit.

With all the chaos occurring around them, not many had noticed the Uruk go flying. One of the few who did was the Grand Shaman.

One of the few Uruks who hadn't moved much since the attacks had begun, the Storm's Leader had just sat back and enjoyed the consistent fighting around him. He wasn't worried much, Ogthrak had consistently beaten anything approaching them to a pulp. At first his attention had been locked on the four contending with Ratlug's creation, but slowly his odd eyes traveled up into the stands as he watched Gundza and Bubol contend with several young women, one of which being the Schnee that the Shadow had no doubt intended to catch.

"Oh, this is just grand, ain't it?!"

The Shaman turned his gaze to Ratlug, who sat beside him whilst frantically scribbling notes as he analyzed the Armored Alpha as it moved to take on the students "With the data on this the next few sets of armor will no doubt be better!" the fake Doctor said happily before nudging his boss "By the way, ya sure ya don't want me tryin' to break these things? They'd be far easier to suit up if they'd stop tryin' to claw anything near them."

"No... their bloodlust runs too deep." the Shaman said slowly

"Just sayin', I mean the beastie down there will no doubt start digging into the audience once it kills those tark youngsters. If we just get its obedience-"

"No... these things aren't animals... despite tendencies... their obedience can't be gained so easily." the Stormbringer then shifted in his seat a bit as an Atlesian tried sneaking up on them from behind, a large sword in hand "But control can be gained... without obedience..."

As the Soldier's sword came down, suddenly Ogthrak's meaty hands clamped down on it and stilled it mid swing. Ratlug and the Shaman went back to their viewing as the Warmonger swung his clasped hands into the Atlesian's helmet before swinging both him and his sword into the air.

He was sent sailing towards another approaching Soldier, who ducked under her incoming comrade. He slammed into two AK-Units as she stood and opened fire on Ogthrak.

The burly Uruk merely raised one arm to protect his head, closing the distance between them as rounds impacted with the limb.

He swung one fist down into her gun to throw her aim off before ramming his head against her helmet, the sheer force causing her to stumble back a bit before his thick fingers found their way to her helmet before he dragged his knee into her chin. As she fell Ogthrak turned on the next closest threat with grunts and growls aplenty.

"Do you suppose I should've tried sticking guns on it?"

While the Warmonger tore into the attackers, Ratlug continued his calm little conversation with the Stormbringer.

"...What?"

"I mean give it a bunch of guns!" the Swordsmith clarified "We had plenty lying around, if I had more time I could've slapped a big ol' cannon or two onto that baby!"

"No... even if a beast such as that... could muster the brain power necessary to operate it..." the Shaman turned back to look into the fighting pit "Just because we can empower the enemy of Tarks... does not mean we must overpower them..."

"If it turns on us, we could just stick a bomb in its head." Ratlug suggested before being distracted by something in the fighting pit "Hey boss, is that-?"

"Seems your son... has been letting off steam..."

A familiar yellow form had been thrown up through the hole in the fighting pit floor where contestants had been delivered from, barely managing to catch herself on her descent as she crashed into the ground.

"Smack talking, spin-kicking bastard." Yang uttered as she pushed herself from the dirty floor and set her sights upon what could only be described as pandemonium.

She'd been so focused on somehow getting through Krosh that she hadn't been able to think too hard on the various sounds of violence coming from above, but now that she was up here...

...nah, she still had no damn clue what the hell was happening.

First off were the things happening in the fighting pit, Velvet and the rest of her team were darting around trying to fight off what looked like an Alpha Beowolf dressed like a walking tank, trying to attack and dodge its many furious swipes all at once. She saw Coco firing hundreds of rounds into its armor, only to pause as it chased Fox closer to her and shift the massive weapon back into its case form so she could make a break for it as it dove towards them. The two split up to avoid a swinging claw, the Grimm's attention turning to what it assumed to be the slower of the two. Just as its other claw sailed towards Coco, Yatsuhashi stepped in to deflect it with his sword. The Grimm pulled back just as the large student swung at it, only to be distracted as more chain fire pulled its attention to Velvet, who wielded a copy of Coco's weapon.

Yang's eyes traveled up to find the stands in complete chaos, what looked like Atlas forces contesting with the Audience. Gunfire and the clash of weapons filled the air as the Atlesians tried to hold up under the press of the Uruk-Hai. The AK-Units were obviously being used as meat-shields by the soldiers, who let the Robots draw attention while they weaved through the crowds to pick their targets. For the most part it was effective, but Yang could tell just by looking that it wasn't something they could keep up forever. Some of the Uruks were just too much for the attackers, being either too bulky or too aware to outmaneuver.

And then Yang's attention was brought to the highest part of the Arena, where Ishmol and his two alcohol loving bodyguards seemed to be fighting a single woman. Well, fighting was a loose term in Ishmol's case. The Arena Master seemed content with dodging and letting his goons protect him while they did all the fighting. And for guys no doubt wasted off their asses, they were doing damn fine. Spinning and swinging their halberds with precision while they deflected the woman's disks with stern and concise guard tactics. Yet more proof that their was something to alcohol she just wasn't getting.

But then she kept looking along the top, and her eyes practically shrank once she glued them to a familiar little sister of hers. After all those weeks thinking of what reuniting with her younger sibling would be like, suddenly she was just right there. Then she noticed that she was locked in combat with Bubol and that relief soon turned back to that familiar feeling of protectiveness.

"Ruby-!" she began before something hard and heavy slammed into the back of her head. She stumbled forward just as Krosh slid in front of her, she almost managed to block with her gauntlets before his foot connected with her chin and sent her into the air. She caught sight of Ruby again before the Warmonger leaped up to her as she fell back to the ground. This time she managed to block as he slashed at her with his blades.

She sailed back, actually crashing into an Uruk in the audience. She angrily began rising from the unfortunate whelp just as Krosh landed on the seat in front of her.

"Aw, hoping for a family reunion, lady?" he taunted before the spikes on his leg bracers extended again and he leaped towards her. The Blonde lunged out of the way of the spikes and opened fire on him, he retracted his blades and blocked them with his bracers before diving towards her. Yang leaned out of the way as his blades re-extended, and swiped past her. The two traded blows for a moment until a double swipe from the Warmonger caused Yang to back up into one of Ishmol's guards who had been bashing the headless body of a droid.

"Hey ya-!" was all he managed to get out before Yang's elbow slammed into his head and she grabbed hold of him before tossing him at Krosh.

The Warmonger just smirked before spin-kicking the poor Drunk back in Yang's direction, flailing his own sword in a daze.

Yang gripped her hands together before swinging them full force into the Drunk and sending him into the fighting pit.

The time it took for her to deal with him was enough for Krosh to lean down and pry one of the Arena's seats off its support.

As soon as she turned back to him the seat slammed into the side of her head, and she clutched at the point of impact with one hand to steady herself while raising the other to block another swing.

Krosh narrowed his eyes before tossing the seat into the air and lunging forward while Yang was recovering.

Eyes-widening, Yang tried to bring her other arm back to proper position but winced as she felt his blade slashing at her Aura again.

But she gritted her teeth and let the adrenaline and rage keep her focused on blocking the swipes of his blades. She saw the spikes extend on his leg bracers again, and prepared for the incoming kicks when he suddenly reached up and caught the seat he'd tossed earlier. He threw it at her and dove low, Yang blasted the incoming projectile out of the air and grimaced when she saw the incoming leg.

She managed to catch him by the foot, literally the only part of his lower leg not covered by spikes, and tossed him back before charging after him.

Like a cat, he landed on all fours and glanced up in time to scoot back as Yang's fist cracked the ground where his head previously was.

As the two continued fighting above, the Drunk Yang has knocked into the Fighting Pit slowly rose while cradling his head. "Ugh... wha's happenin'?" he muttered before turning around as heavy sounds approached "I thinks I need a dri-"

He was interrupted as a massive maw clamped down on his upper torso and gnawed him to bits. The Armored Alpha's teeth tore into him, chewing into flesh and bone before tossing the rest away.

Panting from running from the beast for so long, Velvet slowed to a stop beside her teammates.

"Its eating them too?" Fox commented after releasing a sigh of his own.

"Must not've trained it well." Coco said before turning her gaze to the battle above with a thoughtful hum "Hey... if that's the case then I think I got a pretty okay idea."

In the stands, the Uruks had gained a lot of ground. Many of the lesser known Chiefless Captains had congregated in the eastern section of seats with their underlings. After putting aside any previous conflicts they may have had with one another in order to more effectively push back the Atlesian forces, they proved too dangerous for the Soldiers to even try getting to. That left the AK-Units to hold them in the east stands, but with the Captains there it would only hold for so long.

One such captain was currently beating one robot with the dismembered arm of another, and was prepared to jump back into battle when suddenly chain fire rained down on several Uruks behind him. He glared down in the fighting pit where it had come from and quickly hauled the destroyed robot up to use as a shield while more bullets peppered him.

"The Brown Tark want's a fight boys!" he heard another Captain above him shout as he tossed another droid off him and raised a thick looking club towards the Pit "Somebody Get some archers-!"

Before he could finish the bench he was standing on creaked, unable to hold after being quite deliberately chewed up by the bullets. Suddenly the bench and any Uruk who was unfortunate to stand on it tipped forward, Uruks fell forward into other Uruks and some even dragged their Robotic quarries down with them. Soon a good number of Orcs and machines had fallen into the fighting pit. Most didn't seem to mind, merely continuing their fights with the AK-Units while others took more caution at the knew position.

"Do I even want to know why?!" Fox shouted as he leaped just as the Armored Alpha slashed towards him.

Team CFVY split up again as Coco called out with a grin "Trust me! Lure it into them!"

Above, Ratlug hummed in thought as he continued writing "Ah, planning on using the beast's indiscriminate desire to kill in order to outmaneuver it?" he commented "An unfortunately optimal choice of action. I suppose we should keep that in mind with the next ones, eh boss?"

But the Shaman had completely devoted his attention to the brawl happening even higher. Sure the Woman going for Ishmol should be of higher interest, seeing as Gundza had spoken of a Female Specialist who was included in the assault team, but Ishmol's goons were doing a fine job of holding her at bay. No, it was the girls who seemed to be trying to aid her that peaked the Storm Leader's interest more.

Well, two were clearly trying to get passed Gundza to help the older woman, but the Shaman was still deliberating on the third. Seems interacting with Bubol had put her in quite the poor mood if the furious way she attacked him said anything.

Ratlug however, was fully engrossed in the situation below them.

Two AK-Units finished mowing down a Hunter before turning their guns on an incoming shield-bearer. The bullets tore through his shield, but he managed to reach them and swung his halberd. One ducked under it as the large weapon cleaved through its partner's head. It tried firing, only to realize its gun was empty and immediately swing it towards him instead. The Uruk raised his shield, only for its weakened form to shatter as the gun slammed into it.

He took it in stride, using his now free arm to grab hold of his Halberd and impale the droid on it. It kept going, pulling itself towards him on his weapon as he prepared to try swinging it off. Before he could do that, the Armored Alpha's maw closed upon both of them, chewing through both Uruk and Robot before seeking out another target.

"Now!"

Just as it turned its head to the source of the sound, the Grimm was hit by another barrage of bullets. Coco continued firing as the beast raised its head and immediately took off in her direction as countless rounds bounced off its armor.

"Come on big guy." she mumbled as it drew closer "Ya know you want some of this!"

Once within range, it snarled as it raised a claw and brought it down towards her. She could feel a hand grab hold of her shoulder from behind and toss her out of the way as Yatsuhashi lunged forward to meet its swing.

Gripping his massive sword in both hands, the Student spun to intercept the incoming claw. Following the clang of blades meeting, the Alpha reared back, its poise momentarily broken. The force of the collision was apparently finally enough to knock the armor on its forearm loose, as evidenced by a broken strap and a larger portion of the black fur below being visible.

Coco took a moment to congratulate herself before shouting "Vel, Fox!"

Once the Grimm managed to get back on all fours, it moved to punish the Large Human tenfold for forcing it back.

But two figures darted from the sides before it could even get close, Fox and Velvet wielding a holo copy of his arm blades.

Twin slashes soon sent the forearm tumbling to the ground as the Armored Alpha reared back and roared in anger at the sudden loss of its limb.

But as Coco prepared to open fire again, the Grimm caught sight of Velvet panting from exertion as her copied weapons vanished.

The fashionista followed its gaze before shouting "Velvet!"

The Faunus lifted her head only to catch sight of the one-armed Grimm charging her, wobbling as it approached but still incoming faster than she'd be able to dodge. She quickly started forming another copy as the Armored Alpha lunged towards her jaws wide... closing her eyes as the Grimm fell upon her, its raw weight forcing her onto her back.

She felt a splash of something after falling onto her back as something landed on her lower leg, but she hadn't been completely crushed like she'd expected. Popping open her eyes, she found a copy of Yatsuhashi's massive blade wedged in the Grimm's maw, having slid between its teeth and kept it from collapsing atop her. A quick glance revealed that what had fallen on her was actually the lower half of the beast's helmet, the blade must've cut through it on its way into the Grimm's mouth. The fluid on her was the dark blood, already beginning to evaporate. But before she could release the tense breath she was holding, she felt movement.

It wasn't dead.

Despite having a massive blade lodged in its mouth, seems the Armored Alpha wasn't quite done yet. A Red eye centered on her as it began raising its good claw, ignoring the horrid position it was in and aiming to gore her before she could even hope to scramble out of the way.

But before it could bring down the armored limb, Yatsuhashi stepped in and swung his sword upwards through the Alpha's now unprotected neck. The head was chopped clean off and the entire body went limp as Velvet scrambled out from under it. The rest of the team gathered together around the slowly disappearing Grimm's corpse, the pieces of armor falling to the ground once the one their wearer ceased to be.

Ratlug lowered his notes and patted the pages appreciatively "And that is the end of my precious prototype." he said with a sigh before grinning towards his superior "Informative wasn't it? Do I have permission to go avenge it?"

"No..." the Shaman muttered, eyes still locked on the battle up on the catwalk "...We're done here..."

The Swordsmith blinked as the Stormbringer arose and turned to find Ogthrak pummeling yet another Atlesian with one hand while crushing a AK-Unit's head with the other "Ogthrak, we're going..." he stated before turning and casually making his way over the Warmonger's many victims "Doctor... have someone open us a gate..."

"Of course sir." Ratlug replied diligently as he pulled out a scroll and followed behind the Shaman.

Down in the Pit, Team CFVY were finally given a chance to catch their breath once the Grimm finally evaporated "Great hustling out there guys." Coco said before stretching

"Yeah, go team whatever." Fox grumbled before gesturing into the madhouse that the stands had become "What exactly are we supposed to do about this?!"

Despite a clear close-Quarters disadvantage, the Atlesian tactic still allowed them to continue contending with the Uruks.

The Uruks who'd ran to Gundza's aid hadn't lasted long, even with the Shadow's help. Seeing that soon they'd have a clear path to Riley and the Drunks, the Exile finally swallowed his pride and called for the help of-

"Bubol!" he shouted while dodging out of the way of another bullet and sidestepping a glyph.

The Diseased Archer finally pried his eyes away from the increasingly infuriated Rose before him and swung his Wrist bow back as his eyes glowed a sickly green color.

Ears twitching, Gundza leaned out of the way as the grapple sailed past him and grabbed hold of Gambol Shroud mid swing. Blake went wide-eyed as she was suddenly pulled towards the Possessed Specialist who rammed the blunt end of his spear into her side as she sped past him before focusing on the Heiress once more.

Blake saw the Diseased Archer rushing towards her as his grapple yanked her towards him, with Ruby already on his heels. She quickly used a clone to escape the hook, and slid to the edge of the catwalk as it shattered in the claw's grasp.

The Diseased Archer took no issue, instead leaping as Crescent Rose was swiped towards his feet and swinging his grappling hook like a whip. Blake just barely managed to lean out of the way as Bubol landed and immediately threw himself back into Gundza.

As the Shadow cursed, the Lunatic rolled over him, intercepted a thrust from Myrtenaster and lunged forward before grabbing Weiss with his free arm and tossing her back to Gundza. The Shadow's fist sent her back towards Bubol who wasted no time in kicking her legs out from under her. Despite being slightly dazed by the unexpected combo, she quickly formed a Glyph beneath her and slid out from between them before the incoming spear could reach her.

In the end the three girls were more or less back to where they began at the beginning, with both of the Uruks standing between them and their goal. Albeit everyone except Bubol was showing signs of exhaustion, the Diseased Cretin wasn't even breathing hard from all the jumping and dodging he'd been doing.

"Should just give it up ladies," he pointed out while casually swinging his grip "might've been a while since we last worked together but Gundzie and I are like a dynamic duo and such!"

"I would appreciate it if you stopped calling me that." the Shadow grunted

"Aw what's the matter, old chum? Feeling a bit-?"

He wasn't able to finish the question as a foot slammed into the back of his head and caused him to stumble towards the girls. Gundza glanced to the side in shock just in time for Bubol's assailant to slash at him with armblades.

Gritting his teeth, the Archer dodged past a bullet and dove under Crescent Rose only to come up and immediately come face to face with an incoming sword. He raised his bow to block, but the sheer force behind the attack sent him sailing from the Arena and smashing into one of the loading bay's walls.

Yatsuhashi hefted his blade and turned to the surprised girls before giving them a silent nod. A grunt of anger brought their attention back to Gundza just as he tossed Fox away from him, the pale-eyed boy catching himself and sliding to a stop just beside them.

"Hey guys," he muttered while keeping his gaze locked on the Shadow "Coco said you looked like you needed help, so-"

"The detonator!" Weiss wasted no time in shouting before pointing with her weapon "He has it!"

Her voice apparently traveled far enough, for Ishmol's confident smile turned to a look of confusion. Even Tuvor seemed to catch a bit of that, for after deflecting Riley's disk again he glanced back and said "Huh? Wha she just say?"

That was all it took for Riley to lunge past his shield, grab hold of his halberd, and ram its burning tip into Mozu's chest as he approached. His aura still withstood the attack, but the same couldn't be said for the Grog in his chest pouch. In a split-second the Uruk was ablaze, and Riley used the moment of confusion to move for a significantly less-confident Ishmol, who backed away as one of his bodyguards stumbled through the crowd and fell into the fighting pit while still burning.

Gundza immediately turned and ran for him, the footsteps of the Students just behind him prompted him to shout "Its the metal you halfwit! They want the metal!"

Ishmol blinked as his hand traveled to the detonator stuck to his chest, then grew wide-eyed. He tore it off him, but Riley charged into him before he could break it. It sailed from his grasp into the air and Gundza swung a spear towards it only for Fox to slash his wrist and cause him to miss, Ruby leaped on his shoulders and jumped for the detonator as it fell, but a thrown shield slammed into her before she could grab hold. The Shield's owner, Tuvor, was about to lunge for the Detonator when Yatsuhashi slammed his sword into the Drunk's side.

Gundza prepared to dart towards it when Riley threw Ishmol into his back, making the Exile stumble forward just as Weiss raised a Glyph. As the Exile scrambled to shove the Arena Master off him he caught sight of the Glyph just as Blake jumped on it and was launched towards the Detonator.

Growling he stood and hefted a spear as she landed.

He tossed it just as her finger pressed at it.

The spear hit the detonator and pinned it to the floor.

Everyone was still for a moment.

And then the gas canisters activated.

Ishmol scrambled back to his feet in terror as he watched the fighting pit almost immediately become filled by the gas, but he caught something out of the corner of his eye which alleviated many of his fears. The Storm Captains currently leaving through the upper hole in the wall they'd used to enter.

Gundza watched him make a break for it, and was about to do the same when a disk slammed into him and tossed him to the edge of the Catwalk.

"Masks on!" Riley shouted as she caught her disk in one hand and reached into her coat with the other.

The others followed her lead, donning the small gas masks as confused shouts rang out from the Uruks. Those shouts eventually turned to groans and murmurs as the gas took affect, a number of Uruks still stood, but their numbers dwindled rapidly as more and more fell to the chemicals.

With the AK-Units left unaffected and the soldiers already donning their masks as well, the battle took a turn almost immediately.

Just when things were looking up, Ruby spotted the fleeing Arena Master "Wait... but he's-!" her words died in her throat, and the other students turned to follow her gaze.

Just as Ishmol stumbled to the hole, a familiar blonde slammed into the wall beside him.

Ishmol dragged himself out of the hole just as a Blue and white Uruk swiped at her with extendable blades. She ducked under them and fired at him , only for him to slip down her arm and ram his knee into her stomach before dragging her out through the hole with him.

Ruby wasted no time in darting after them, but before her teammates could finish properly affixing their masks and call for her to wait-

Gundza left Maxwell.

Riley had him cornered, but the distractions gave him an opening to make another gamble.

Maxwell gasped as the Shadowy figure darted from his body and slipped past Riley before the Specialist could even realize what was happening. Eyes centered on the Heiress, he ignored the panicked shouts of the other humans and tackled the Schnee with enough force to knock the gas mask from her mouth.

"Weiss!" Blake shouted as her teammate and the Shadow bounced on several of the seats before disappearing into the growing cloud of gas covering the fighting pit.

The Faunus looked torn for a moment, eyes briefly following her leader until a hand grabbed her shoulder.

She turned to Yatsuhashi, who merely nodded to her "We'll aid Ruby." he stated.

Blake took a moment to look to Riley, who was looking over Maxwell's unconscious form before turning back and nodding ascent to Yatsu's words.

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

Weiss couldn't move, her body too wrought with exhaustion. Despite this she felt herself moving, being dragged across the dirty ground of the Fighting pit. She'd lost her gas mask in the fall, and was only barely staying conscious by holding her breath for as long as she dared.

Turning her head, she saw what appeared to be Gundza trying his hardest to drag her. At least, she was almost sure it was him. Her vision was blurred as her eyelids struggled and failed to fall. That's right... Blake had never gotten a good look at hi. The Schnee heard the Uruk grunting, apparently also trying to hold his breath as he tried to make his escape with her.

Weiss was not a large girl, even she could flat out admit at times, yet the Uruk couldn't have dragged her off by now? Maybe she had gotten lucky, he wasn't as immune to the affects of the gas as she'd feared. She offered some token resistance, trying to snag her heels on any of the unconscious or dead bodies around them. The Exile had to keep from openly snarling at that.

But she could feel his grip slowly weakening, if she could just keep going before he got too far away with her.

"Weiss!"

Despite her murky senses, Weiss could hear the sound of Blake's voice calling for her. The Uruk heard it too, she could almost make out the widening of his eyes as his head snapped up towards the sound.

Weiss slowly turned her head to the side to see a figure slowly approaching their direction through the gas surrounding them

She felt Gundza tug at her some more, his pulls growing more desperate as Blake's form drew closer. Finally he placed a hand to her stomach, her own exhaustion abated momentarily by the fear of seeing it melt into her.

He was having difficulties, she could tell by the angered grunts he released as he tried and failed to slip inside the Heiress.

Just a few more seconds...

The Uruk finally released her, his form trembling with either the burn of a lack of oxygen or the rage at being so close yet so far from his goal. He slammed his hand from her and slammed it into the ground beside her furiously before turning and slowly stumbling away, tripping over one of the bodies before clawing his way back to his feet and disappearing in the gas just as a familiar Faunus in a Gas Mask knelt beside her.

Weiss could only smile as she looked up at Blake, not caring of the severely undignified situation she was in as she finally gave into the overwhelming urge to sleep.

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

Yang winced as Krosh and Ogthrak restrained her arms, "Just give it up already, Lady!" the smaller Warmonger shouted "You lost, just deal with it damn you!"

"I can see just how well that trainin' of yours is paying off." Ogthrak muttered sarcastically before glancing back.

Ratlug and the Shaman were near the edge of the factory, in almost identical positions as when they first arrived, only now the Swordsmith was tapping away on his scroll. And in addition to that, Ishmol had taken the place of Bubol and was crouched next to the Shaman talking in a most rushed manner.

"-And then that Exile told me it was just a piece of metal and whatnot! The damn tarks got ahold of it and my whole Arena's a smokehouse now!" the Brewer said frantically before smiling and gesturing towards the Shaman "But thankfully I escaped, ya don't really mind me hooking up with you lot eh? I got me a recipe here-"

"Oi doc!" the Larger Warmonger shouted as the Arena Master continued talking "Mind dealing with this one here?"

"Hn?" Ratlug looked up for a moment before smiling and gesturing to the scroll in his hands "Kind of in the middle of somethin' here big guy."

"Even now you dedicate yourself to making things harder for me? The fuck!?" Krosh growled as he watched the Fake Doctor chuckle at his misfortune and pull a familiar controller from his coat.

"Gate should be opening any second now boss," he said to the Shaman before pointing the controller towards the brawler "should we-?"

"Yang!"

Several sets of eyes turned to the red girl with the scythe standing in the hole they'd all just exited from, scythe aimed towards them as she slowly approached.

"Ruby!" Yang began "Wait don't-!"

The Warmongers both tossed her back, but before she could retaliate with her new freedom a boot was placed against her back and almost immediately forced her forward till she was pressed against the roof, it became apparent the Shaman had suddenly found interest in the situation.

His foot wasn't the same as the grasp of his underlings, it felt as if someone had suddenly built a building on top of her.

"So this is the younger sibling." Ratlug commented before sighing as he glanced towards the Scythe-Wielder "Bubol was quite descriptive when it came to the young one you apparently share blood with."

"You guys are gonna be sorry if you did anything to-!"

"I doubt that Girlie," Krosh interrupted Ruby as he cracked his knuckles and extended his wrist blades "I'm just going to come out and say it right now but I'm absolutely positive you're not going to do jack shit against us."

"Wanna bet!?"

Krosh seemed humored, but Ratlug gave a thoughtful hum "Never take a bet, sonny."

"Seriously, you gotta ruin my dramatic stand off too!?"

It was there, pinned to the roof by the Grand Shaman while watching the two Warmongers stare down her baby sister, with Ratlug reaching into his lab coat presumably for a weapon, that Yang felt a painful stab of defeat.

She couldn't take them... No matter how proud of her younger sister she felt when seeing the Red Head face down an apparently overwhelming force, she just knew that there'd be no way Ruby could take them on. She looked tired and angry, outnumbered and outclassed. Yang wanted to think of a plan that ended with her and her sister heading back to Beacon before the day ended, but instead she could only picture the depressing image of Ruby trapped in a cell like hers.

"Ruby..." Yang said slowly "stay back..."

"What!?"

"Hn?" the Stormbringer tilted his robed head as he gazed down at her in curiosity "What's this?"

"Yang... what are you talking about? Just hang on and I'll get you out of there and-"

"There'll be a better time! Just don't get near them!"

The mere thought of just leaving her there seemed to spur Ruby to do the exact opposite, cocking Crescent Rose and firing towards them in a flurry of rose petals.

"Here we go!" Krosh laughed before charging to meet her head on.

Yang grimaced before raising one of her arms and moving to cock her gauntlets, which was a bitch to do in that position, when the telltale sounds of them locking up made her jerk her head towards Ratlug, who tauntingly dangled the controller in his fingers with a giggle.

Ruby brought her scythe down on the approaching Warmonger, only for him to slip past her blade and ram his shoulder into her, knocking her off her feet. She landed with a stumble as he launched towards her leg spikes extending. Before they could connect a large blade blocked the Uruk's path, and with a sudden frown he instead leaped off the blade and spun through the air back to his comrades.

Ruby blinked before glancing back to find Fox and Yatsuhashi flanking her.

The sight brought a smile back to Yang's face, if it was the three of them then maybe they actually stood a-

That hopeful thought was silenced by the familiar sound of a Dreamer Gate opening behind her.

"Gate's here, we're leaving." the Stormbriner stated evenly in his breathy grunts.

The Warmongers turned back to look at him, Krosh actually looked surprised by the order, before they both nodded and darted back towards the Gate. More footsteps indicated Ratlug and Ishmol were already in motion.

"What? Wait no!" Ruby shouted before she and the CFVY Boys rushed to intercept.

"I'm sorry Rubes!" Yang shouted as the Shaman's boot was replaced by the Grip of the Warmongers "There'll be another time! I promise!"

The last things she saw before being dragged through the gate was her Sister's tear stricken face as she tried to reach her.

And then it closed... and she was back in the damn factory floor. She let out a slow breath before glaring at her captors. Ratlug turned to two Uruks standiing beside the now-closed portal as the Arena Master immediately gaped at their surroundings.

"By the Dark Lord..." Ishmol said in awe as he took in the underground factory "You lot had all this? No wonders you been holding up!"

"Ishmol..."

The Arena Master slowly stood at the sound of the Shaman's voice and turned around.

Yang and the Storm Captains looked on as the Arena Master's face disappeared as an arm rammed through it. The Stormbringer flexed his fingers once they passed through Ishmol's skull, waiting for the Uruk to go limp before pulling his arm free and flicking some of the viscera from it.

"Aw," Ratlug sighed at the sight "he could've at least tried to see that coming."

"An Arena Master without an Arena... to flee from one's livelihood so readily... such a shame...A true Tournament Lord would've died in his own fighting pit... A pretender to the end I suppose..." the Robed Uruk said in his odd manner of speech while kneeling beside the dead Brewer and searching his corpse for something.

That was the most Yang had ever heard the Grand Shaman speak, and honestly, she was starting to finally get the preachy vibes she'd expected from his initial robed appearance. Seriously, the hell kinda point was he trying to make to justify goring a dude right after helping the very same guy escape capture?

"Here Doctor..." the Robed Shaman raised a rolled up piece of paper and offered it to the Swordsmith "this you should find use of."

Yang didn't know if the fact that seeing an Uruk getting ruthlessly murdered before her eyes was starting get old was a bad thing. On one hand there were a lot of them she'd probably be fighting in the near future, on the other hand wasn't it kinda dangerous to get desensitized to this kinda thing or something like that?

"Damn it," she heard Krosh mutter, breaking her out of her worries "I was really hoping I could start building a family set."

Yeah, she could at least be glad that it was her in this position and not her sister. It didn't matter how badly things turned out for her, as long as she knew Ruby was okay then it would be worth it.

"You wouldn't have been able to keep her anyway laddie." Ratlug spoke as he leaned against the wall beside the now closed Dreamer Gate

That peaked her interest, and Krosh's as well apparently.

"What?" the smaller Warmonger asked

"She's an accomplice..." the Shaman stated while walking in front of her and looking her over from within that all encompassing robe of his "... She's still useful... as a gift."

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

"The mission, was a success."

Krimp could hear the three crowded around Ozpin's desk release worried breaths once they recieved the news, but he wasn't paying them much mind. He sat with his back to them idly moving his childish drawings around after flipping them over. Many had what looked like mistakes on the back, lines he'd probably accidentally gotten them while he was fumbling to make them. But now, the Friendly Uruk just released a small little hum as he arranged them, lining up the odd looking markings as they started to form a shape.

Ironwood groaned as he reclined in a chair near Ozpin's desk "Thanks to that damned Shadow more Uruks managed to escape than we planned, not mention the casualties we would've been spared if those canisters had gone off in the beginning."

"I still don't understand how he managed to pretend to be an officer for at least a full day and not anyone noticed." Glynda mumbled

"Its his semblance." the General retorted as he leaned forward and drew a flask from his coat "If he trains with it enough he could be out there impersonating other high value targets within the month. Maxwell was always a stand offish guy, not many close friends who would've noticed any changes he might've had. He got lucky choosing his target, just like we got lucky that the detonator wasn't destroyed. We still managed to nab about a dozen captains and their underlings but..."

"It will be a positive note that we can give to the public." Ozpin said solemnly "We must move quickly, using this we can hopefully introduce these creatures to the people with minimal fuel to the Grimm. Groups like the White Fang and Blue Scarves will no doubt seize upon any chance of Fear-Mongering, but hopefully this keeps their lasting influences to a minimum."

"Speaking of Grimm." Glynda turned to the Professor with a questioning look "The Armored Alpha?"

"From what we can tell it was Just a regular Alpha Beowolf they captured." Ironwood stated "The Armor itself is actually quite ramshackle on the inside, forged of different metals taken from different places."

"And yet it took an entire Team of Students to take one down?" she questioned "The average Alpha Beowolf is a threat with their pack but alone a Trained huntsmen or even two students could defeat one with relative ease. Despite their actions today, Team CFVY is far beyond average Second Years, yet apparently this Ramshackle armor helped it pose threat to all of them?"

"I never said the armor was bad because of its make-up." the Atlesian insisted "The metals, while inconsistent, were structured for durability. The process of restraining a Grimm, while difficult, is possible to many. Its just that nobodies been thick-headed enough to actually try armoring them while they're in captivity. They even admitted to not having control over it, they just felt like making it deadlier."

"Well that's just perfect." Glynda scoffed as she folded her arms in angered thought "Even if the Chief-less Raiders were crippled by today's attack, will we have to start dealing with Grimm running around armored like tanks? I mean where did they even get the materials?"

"What we must focus on now is presenting this to the populace in a suitable manner." Ozpin began before turning to Ironwood "James, I trust that Atlas will be more than willing to assist despite the troubles up north?"

"There are no troubles, I assure you." the General stated with a small smile "Merely-"

He paused slowly as a scent reached his nose, the other two taking note of it immediately before all three turned towards Krimp's corner.

The Giant Uruk was still messing with his drawings as usual, but now the sight was littered with the growing smell of smoke.

"Krimp?" Ozpin began as Ironwood slowly stood from his chair.

When the Massive Uruk didn't respond immediately the General pulled his pistol on him.

"Uruk, what exactly are you doing over there?"

At that Krimp finally began to rise and turn towards them.

The first thing noticed was the uncharacteristically sad smile he wore.

The second was the Dreamer Gate forming at his feet.

"Bye, buddies." he said with a small wave before leaning into the portal.

A riding crop was raised and a pistol fired, but at that point the gate was already closing behind him.

* * *

Vision returned to her as she blinked away the blurriness of exhaustion. The sky and tress became clearer as she slowly rose and raised a hand to her face.

She had been resting atop a sleeping bag laid beside several crates, as she slowly rose from it she began noting the various noises around her.

Weiss Schnee was outside Ishmol's Arena, in the time she'd been unconscious it seems the rest of the Atlesian Forces had begun cleaning up.

There were several large trucks parked nearby and Soldiers were everywhere, mostly caring for wounded or escorting Uruks in chains. A truck passed by her with a large cage on it, inside several Uruks shouted slanderous words to her while stepping over their other Comrades who still seemed unconscious. As she looked some more, she spotted more of the cages with even more of the violent prisoners tucked inside. She made sure to move away from them, she was still exhausted and did not wish to deal with their jeers on top of droopy eyelids.

There seemed to be a perimeter set up around the Arena, lined with large vehicles with mounted guns atop them. Every so often she'd hear one of the guns activate and the roar of a Grimm being silenced.

She spotted a large number of dirty looking Villagers and chained up White Fang members who were being looked after by the soldiers, were those the slaves who would've died in the Arena?

Her supposition was cut short once she spotted a familiar pair of cat ears.

Blake was leaning against one of the large building's walls, staring down at the ground in thought but occasionally shooting glances to a doorway several yards away that led inside. Her silence was broken once she spotted the incoming high heels of her teammate.

"Weiss, have a good nap?" she asked as she glanced up towards her approaching comrade.

"Lovely." the Heiress responded "I don't suppose it would've been the case if you hadn't gone after me and the brute, thank you."

The Faunus gave her a small smile and a nod.

Weiss matched her smile with one of her own before losing it as she took a look around "Where's Ruby? Last I saw of her she was charging off after her sister."

Blake sighed at that "Yeah, went after the Uruks who took Yang. Before you ask, no Yang's not back. Ruby's..." she paused before glancing to the doorway "not taking it well."

"What do you mean we can't go after them!?"

The inside of the Arena was a farcry from the warzone it had been mere hours ago. The majority of the Audience were either in cages, escaped, or being transported out by Atlesians.

In the lower stands Riley let out a sigh as the huntress in training looked to her with a desperate, questioning gaze "Look kid, I know how it may seem now but we just can't go looking for her at the moment."

"B-But we won, you guys said that if we took this Arena and grabbed enough Captains then the Chiefless would be in disarray!"

"And they are, but it's not that simple!"

"If anything now should be the best time to go looking for her! Before they recuperate."

"Kid" Riley sighed "Those guys who have your sister... they aren't chiefless, they're something else. They won't be affected by today the same way the raiders will be."

"Even so-!"

"We don't have the manpower for it, damn it."

Riley glanced beside her, where an exhausted looking Maxwell sat on one of the benches with one leg crossed over the other and one hand massaging his head "Because of you imbeciles letting that Foolish Uruk outplay you, we lost far more today than predicted."

"I seem to recall that fool managing to get the jump on you." Riley crossed her arms

"He got me in my sleep, what do you want? At least I'm not the one who believed an Otherworldly monster was the same Colleague you've known since basic."

"Hm, so people couldn't tell a violent monster apart from you? Is this maybe hinting to something for ya Maxie Boy?"

"Yes, it tells me that all of you are incompetent and the only way you managed to win today was because our enemy was equally incompetent."

The blue-haired man shook his head before turning his glare back to Ruby "The point being that because you all failed to see through that creature's tricks we took too much damage from today. We can't go wandering about willy nilly looking for a little girl's big sister simply because the big bad monsters have her."

"But what if they kill her?!"

" _Oh_ _but what if they kill her!_ Grow up." Maxwell bit "What if the White Fang decides to take advantage of our discourse and attack leaving thousands dead because you were selfish enough to drag us about looking for one girl? Do you for a single second manage to look at the bigger picture and realize that on the list of Atlas' priorities your sister shouldn't even be in the top hundred?!"

Ruby closed her mouth and struggled a bit, grinding her teeth as the Specialist glowered down to her.

"Be patient, if things go as expected then the General should have reinforcements here and ready within a week or two. If your sister just happens to get herself killed before then, well... that hardly seems like our business now does it?"

"And this is why nobody could see much difference between you and that Shadow guy, buddy." Riley sighed, ignoring his glare and giving Ruby an apologetic look "I'm sorry Ruby."

The young girl looked between the specialists, biting back the slurry of distasteful thoughts and turning away before making her way out of the building.

Weiss and Blake looked upon their leader as she exited the doorway, the two sharing a glance before moving to flank her.

They waited for a moment, not accustomed to silence from the red-head, before Blake reached towards her with a "Ruby?"

The younger girl shook her head before turning back to them with a weak smile "Yeah?" she asked before realizing her White-Themed Partner was no longer unconscious and gasping "Weiss! You're awake! Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!"

The Heiress gave a confused "Hn?" before Ruby stepped towards her with an ashamed look in her eye.

"When I saw Yang I didn't even think twice about chasing after her, and then afterwards I hear that we almost lost you too!" the younger girl did well in not tripping over her quick words "I left you guys behind... just like back then!"

"Ruby," Weiss sighed before placing a hand to her own chest modestly "even I would begin acting slightly irrational if I believed my own Sister was in peril, even though I'm completely confident in her abilities."

"And I'm confident in Yang!" Ruby insisted before glancing to the side and walking away "Its just..."

"Finally realizing what that familial protectiveness she always displays feels like?" Blake offered, but when she received no answer she instead asked "What um... What did the Specialists say?"

The young leader gave another deep sigh before turning back to them "They said-"

"SWEETNESS!"

That voice immediately caused the huntresses to go for their weapons as nearby soldiers turned to see a Familiar Archer rushing towards them only to be tackled to the ground by several other Atlesians.

"How the hell did he get out!?" One Ssouted as others moved to help restrain the Uruk

"Fuckin-Agh!-Slipped through the bars with his own pus!" Another Shouted while gesturing to several others nearby "Somebody get some chains for this one!"

"Darling!" Bubol shouted out, ignoring the soldiers currently hauling him to his feet "Seems we'll be saying goodbye for now! Oh but a love like mine can be restrained by no mortal means! Ha ha!"

Weiss glowered before taking her hand from the hilt of Myrtenaster and instead placing it on Ruby's shoulder "You don't have to listen to this."

Ruby didn't respond, instead keeping her gaze leveled on the Uruk as he was dragged off.

"Oh, that look is good on you! So hateful and spiteful but with so much room to grow!" the Diseased Lunatic giggled before growling lustfully "Ya know I don't see ya sis with ya. Saw her having a bit o' trouble with some Storm boys while we were dancing! They's a great bunch, real good friends of mine. Know what'll probably happen to that sibling o' yours now that you went and ruined our fun?!"

This time Blake stepped forward and nudged her younger teammate before saying "We can have our conversation elsewhere Ruby." only to receive silence as well.

Bubol's face went straight "They'll give her to Ashgarn's brother, and not the forgiving one, the hateful one in Vacuo. He'll have a grand time setting up her execution, have a whole bunch of pals there to watch her head roll!" slowly the straight face gave way to his usual maddened grin "And when you finally get news that her mangled corpse was found, I want you to remember who took her from you in the first place. Me! Oh I can't wait to see the face you'll make-"

Apparently one of the Atlesians restraining him had had enough, as the Uruk's rants were cut off as a fist knocked the wind from his lungs. Gasps and laughs spilled from his mouth as the disgusting, Boil-covered Uruk was finally taken out of sight.

Weiss and Blake shared a momentary glance, the Uruk's silenced yells had brought the area back to the idle state it had been in beforehand.

Ruby turned and began walking away, her teammates hurrying to catch up as she released an angry breath and tried to continue "They said Yang wasn't a high priority."

"What?" Weiss asked before folding her arms

"Riley tried to word it better, but Maxwell was very forthcoming with how unimportant she was to them."

"Seems being possessed didn't do much to improve his lack of courtesy."

"So they're just going to leave her?" Blake asked

"Yeah, and you know what?" Ruby paused to glance back at them "I think I'm going after her without them."

That gave her teammates pause, with Weiss actually holding back a snicker "Excuse me?"

"I'm tired of waiting while my sister suffers!" Ruby said with clenched hands "So I'm going to find that tower and bust her out before that Warchief can kill her!"

"I miss her too, Ruby, but you're talking about scouring Vacuo head to toe for their tower, then sneaking into the ancient Ruin probably crawling with an Army of creatures whose _deserters_ nearly tore us apart today, and hoping that you can get your sister past all of them, then all the way back to Vale through Orcs, Grimm and the White Fang!"

"Exactly."

The Faunus gave a long deliberate blink before turning back to a still humored heiress "Weiss, I think that guy finally broke her."

"I'm serious, guys. If the military won't help then I say I don't need them." the Red Head stated with a determined look in her eye "I'm tired of sitting back and waiting for others to help me. I don't care if there are millions of those guys between us, I won't be able to sleep well without knowing she's okay!

"I want you to pause for just a second and think about this, how do you even know Bubol wasn't just goading you? The Storm might not even give her to Hork."

"Well then, if she's not at the Tower then I'm looking for _their_ base next!"

This time Weiss didn't bother to hide the tiny little giggles.

"Come on Ruby," Blake said, though hesitating a bit "how would you even get there in time?"

"I don't care!"

"I can't believe this is the way I meet my end." Weiss finally sighed as her laughter finally cut out "Very well, I suppose we should find a map then."

"Weiss?!" Blake jerked her head towards the Schnee

"Weiss, I didn't plan on asking you guys to risk joining me." Ruby said before gesturing towards her older Partner "If anything you'd be the most at risk going out there."

"What can I say?" the Heiress shrugged "I suppose the lack of Yang's presence has shown me just how desperately we need her for our dynamics to be complete."

"Besides," she stepped forward before releasing a breath of her own "Ruby's stubbornness concerning matters of family has impressed me from time to time. What kind of Partner would I be to let her run into a hoard of beasts without my assistance?"

The younger girl's eyes widened a bit before she smiled widely towards her partner and nodded.

"If anything," Weiss glanced towards a distressed looking Blake "I expected you to match Ruby's enthusiasm, Yang is your partner."

"Exactly, and I would know that the last thing she'd want is us nearly killing ourselves trying to save her." Blake explained before sighing "I want her back just as much as either of you, everything we do as a team without her feels wrong and its not like the idea of just going out searching hasn't crossed my mind before, but she doesn't like endangering those close to her."

"Well too bad for her."

"Come on Blake," Ruby said "I won't try to force you to come with us, but just think about it okay?"

The Raven-Haired Faunus gave her a concerned look before walking away with a nod.

"Well," Weiss turned to Ruby with a raised eyebrow "implying you don't have a change of heart, how _are_ you planning on getting to Vacuo?"

"We'll just do what Coco and them did!"

"I'm sure there's a way to do this without making enemies of the military, Ruby. Besides, do you even know how to fly a ship?"

Ruby gave Weiss a queer look "Don't you know how to pilot?"

"Why would you even assume that?"

"I mean, you're from Atlas."

The Schnee merely shook her head at the supposition as Blake finally walked back over to them "Okay, while I'm positive Yang wouldn't want us doing this for her... Let's do it.""

Ruby gasped before smiling and fist-pumping "Alright, Team RWBY Styled Rescue Mission is a-go. Banzai!"

Blake gave a small laugh before joining Ruby with a "Banzai." of her own while Weiss just shook her head before reluctantly raising her fist up with theirs.

"So," Cat-Eared girl lowered her arm to look at their leader "what exactly are we doing in terms of transport?"

"That depends," Ruby placed a finger to her lips before pointing towards the Faunus "can you hijack airships?"

"Is there a method that doesn't involve us stealing from the Military?"

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

They'd taken his arm-mounted bow.

Did they even realize how much of a fondness he'd grown for that weapon?

Bubol looked over the pustule covered arm where his recent dealer of destruction once was.

Besides his new shackles which connected with the metal floor of his container, the other occupants of his cage were several Uruks who still seemed unconscious.

Normally an unconscious anything within twelve feet of him made him lick his lips in anticipation, but at the moment he was busy concerning himself with the strapping young soldiers who occasionally wandered past his cage.

He'd whisper sweet nothings to them, pointing out the enticing nature of their bodies whilst dragging his boil-wracked body as close to the bars as possible.

It was as he'd succeeded in unnerving another pair of wandering technicians that he was distracted by the sound of nearby movement. He glanced back to the pile of unconscious Uruks beside him and smiled when one began moving.

"Hello there," the Archer said with glee "seems you were lucky enough to get thrown in a small cage with little old me. Mind comin' over here so I can-"

"Stuff it, you Disease." an unexpected, yet pleasantly familiar, voice came from the Uruk "I've no time to entertain your sickness."

Bubol's momentary surprise was replaced by a wide grin as the Uruk turned on him with a familiar pair of inky black eyes "Well well Gundzie, seems you really can't stay away from me."

The Shadow grumbled as he tried to focus on waking up. In the Fighting Pit he'd wasted too much time trying to drag the Tark off, if he'd only managed to snag her gas mask when they fell then she would've been his plain and simple. He couldn't let himself pass out in open view, so he'd made the decision to slip into one of the many Uruks lying upon the Floor. If they didn't know where he'd gone, then they would assume he'd escaped.

Gundza slowly moved to the bars of the cage nearest to him and began looking at the ground their container was placed upon.

As he looked, he lamented letting a single foolish lapse in judgement cost him so much. But as long as he stayed one step ahead, he could keep his hunt going strong.

"Oi Gundzie."

Growling, he glanced at the walking disgrace that was Bubol "Do not, call me that."

"Just trying to spark up some conversation, mate!" the Diseased riddled lunatic said with a giggle "You hardly ever come around to visit, gotta make the most of the time we have now old friend!"

"You are nothing resembling a friend to me, just momentary allies depending on what's happening."

"Yeah that was fun!" Bubol laughed "Beating those lassies around using teamwork and all, just like old times!"

"Don't assume to be the same Uruk I once enjoyed murdering with occasionally." the Shadow snarled as he focused once more on searching the ground "After what happened to you, I'm not even sure you could be considered a soldier anymore. Don't think you can pull any old acquaintance shit with me, Bubol."

The Archer merely gave another smaller laugh, but Gundza ignored him as he suddenly spotted what he was looking for and reached out of the cage to grab at it.

"For what it's worth, Gundzie-"

The Exile shifted back into the cage and prepared to admonish Bubol once more.

"-I told them she would be at the Tower."

That made Gundza pause "What?"

"The Heiress and her lovely teammates, I may have mentioned it was likely their friend might end up with Hork."

Gundza didn't respond, merely watched as the Archer leaned forward a bit to grin at him "If you do end up tracking them there, do a little old Uruk a small favor. And tell that delicious red-head that I was the one who told you where they'd be off too."

The Archer leaned back and laughed loudly as the Shadow watched, frown slowly deepening as he watched Bubol's maddened cackling grow wilder.

Turning away from the Diseased Uruk, Gundza opened his hand to reveal a beetle in his palm. Before the insect could move, the Shadow leaked out of the Uruk and slipped into it.

The Uruk he'd released merely wobbled before collapsing back onto his other comrades, the Beetle falling out of his hand but managing to open its wings and easily slip out of the cage and towards the forest as the Diseased Archer's laughter grew louder behind it.

* * *

 **A.N: Look at that, didn't take me one-third of a year to get this next chapter out, woo.**

 **Mostly because this chapter was actually just the payoff for last chapter that had to get cut off due to how much there was. The next chapter might also warrant being split in half, seeing as its also relatively large. For me its the chapters that'll come after the next one that'll prove more challenging seeing as theres a lot of stuff I haven't fully planned out.**

 **Anyway, still waiting for SOW despite the quote unquote "controversy its started due to its microtransactions.** **I just loved the first game so much that there isn't much that could happen that would keep me from buying its sequel.** **In fact, due to how much the devs have been showing off the game there's little possibility I won't enjoy it. At this point it just needs to work in a manner similar to how they've been showing it, which admittedly might be quite different upon release day.**

 **Anyway, enough talking about SOW and on to talking about the Uruks in the Fanfic that its predecessor inspired along with an animated show on the internet.**

 **So, I suppose a lot of Uruks got some form of spotlight this time. For now let's talk about the owner of the chapter's namesake: Ishmol.**

 **I'll admit that I really hated this guy, not because he was difficult or a boring enemy. Ishmol the Brewer's time in my game session consisted of him killing a bunch of other Uruks who I found way more enjoyable for a variety of reasons. If I spent time trying to build an epic Nemesis or Follower while Ishmol was alive, they'd almost always get killed by Ishmol or a Drunk. You can guess that I began associating the Brewer with the number of Grog-lovers. The Drunks were generally easy to kill, but I began developing the idea that the Brewer was specifically sending them to hunt down Uruks I interact with a lot just to spite me. After a while I got tired of killing drunks and hunted Ishmol down, only to find that when he wasn't pissing me off he spent all his time near an Arena watching fights.**

 **And then Ishmol's most annoying quirk became apparent, how much of a slippery little coward he was. He didn't have the fighting capabilities necessary to pose a threat and so he would always summon guys to bodyguard him, but would still get beat down then freak out when faced with defeat. Unfortunately he was a speedy bastard who would run off in the middle of fights and slip away while having his goons get in my way. It worked a number of times until I used a certain brainwashed Uruk to corner and curb-stomp him finally, thankfully he wasn't as stubbornly resistant to dying as others.**

 **Ishmol the Brewer everyone, the guy who killed off some of my favorite characters by bribing addicts with liquor and make for the hills when repercussions come knocking.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoy, any and all criticisms positive or negative are welcomed in full so leave a review if you are so inclined to do. Like it? Hate it? Any ways you feel I could improve? Expectations for the next chapter? Follow or Favorite at your leisure and I will see you all in the next installment of The Dreamer Gate.**

 **Next Chapter: The Shanties...**


	11. Chapter 11: The Shanties

**Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of The Rings, the Middle-Earth universe, Shadow of Mordor/War or RWBY.**

 **This work will contain moments of intense violence, dark and dirty humor, and canonical divergences.**

* * *

 **The Shanties**

 _"How about we do this again, eh girl?"_

 _Ruby tried to move, but found her limbs failing to respond. Only her head seemed capable of shifting positions, her gaze rising from the ground to the Uruk perched atop her unconscious sister's body._

 _"You come find me again... and again... and again..." Bubol said cheerily as the boils covering his body grew larger with pus._

 _Ruby tried to form words, tried giving voice to the horrified emotions she felt as she watched the pustules begin splitting at the seams._

 _Yet no sound could be formed._

 _"This is love, sweetness." the Diseased Lunatic cooed, even as boils began sprouting up within his mouth and began distorting his words "Gis is how much shu mean to meh"_

 _She couldn't scream as the boils spread past the Archer to her unconscious sister, who laid motionlessly as her own flesh was pulled and riddled by his sickness._

 _"Dat feeling inshide you, zat terror, itsh love." Bubol continued speaking as the boils ate away at her sibling's flesh before her very eyes "Maybe if she love you mo, she wouldn' have leth this happen."_

Ruby jolted awake inside a train car, head almost slamming into a nearby crate as she released several deep breaths. She had been trying to get some sleep, curled up against the wall of the train they'd been taking

"Ruby?" a concerned voice preceded a worried looking Blake appearing around several more crates "You okay?"

"Yeah yeah," the younger girl said before taking another breath and giving her teammate a smile "just felt something crawling on me. No biggie, A-okay over here!"

She could tell Blake was unconvinced, but thankfully the Faunus gave a slow nod and turned away "Okay then..."

In the next car over Weiss was similarly trying to get some shut eye, having problems of a different matter compared to her red-hooded partner. Every time the heiress found a comfy position, the train car would shift ever so slightly, just enough to ruin minutes of preparation and get her rightfully agitated before trying again with similar results.

She missed her bed at Beacon, regardless of how terribly worried its particular construction made her. She wanted her cozy sleepwear and something to even simulate a pillow, at least they had those the last few times they ventured out of the kingdom. Alas, in order to make quick headway in the search for Hork's Tower, they had agreed that catching this train into Vacuo would be vital. Unfortunately due to the timing they had to quite literally drop everything and make for its station in Vale. Which meant no resupplying at Beacon, no saying goodbye to their classmates and friends, they'd pretty much ditched the Atlesian forces on their way back to the city in order to catch this train.

Oh and what a catch it was, this was a cargo train barely used to transport things of import. Un-owned by the ever expansive company she herself was in line to inherit, not even criminals like the White Fang had reason to target it.

It seemed almost too good to be true really, a mode of transportation that could turn several weeks of travel into merely a day and a half. But then they got on and realized that it was indeed too good to be true.

The thing was quite liberally stuffed head to toe with lesser imports from Vale, which apparently included plenty of dried foods, large packs of soil and even one notably well-crafted chandelier. As a Schnee, Weiss had seen better chandeliers in bathrooms; however, among the rest of the commodities it was quite literally the most eye catching thing among them. So much so that she wondered why it was being transported in this manner? Surely the risk of breaking such a thing would necessitate something with more care?

And yet even pondering the items around her failed to bring drowsiness to the grumpy young lady. This train was not built with human cargo in mind. All the cars were like this, nearly stuffed to the brim with these items. Traveling in it for the first day had been passable due to Ruby spending the entire time trying to go over how they'd find Yang.

Of course, with both Blake and Weiss combining their knowledge of the area there'd be no doubt that they'd eventually be able to figure out which ruin the Uruks had holed up in, they'd just need some leads.

But after that meeting the time for rest eventually came... only it came without the actual rest.

As Weiss considered whether or not she could ever so sneakily dump some cargo and make more room for herself, a grand distraction arrived in the form of an upset looking Blake.

"How is she?" the Heiress asked immediately

"She said she was _A-Okay_."

"She also said she was just going to try taking a walk to see if she'd get tired, but now here she is trying to sleep away from us for some reason." Weiss sighed before glancing down and trying to get comfy again "Usually after beating the source of your problems you start recovering. Not even seeing that cretin, Bubol, in a cage was able to do it for her."

"Weiss, I don't think Bubol's the problem-"

"I know I know, she's going stir crazy without her sister, I get it. I just figured that seeing him locked up like that would bring her some form of satisfaction... Because I sure found it quite fitting for him."

Blake rolled her eyes before climbing atop several other crates and and lying atop them before turning to stare at the ceiling of the train "I just don't like seeing her this way."

"I don't either," Weiss said as she tried her head atop one of the smaller parcels "however I've no doubt as soon as we grab Yang she'll bounce back good as new."

The Faunus glanced down at her before closing her own eyes "I just hope Yang's doing okay."

As the raven-haired girl sought sleep, a slight shake of the train car preceded another huff of agitation from her white-haired teammate.

* * *

 **Desert Tower~Ground Floor**

The massive central chamber of the tower was notably more crowded today, the reason for which might have been the large Dreamer Gate opening on a nearby wall.

Many Uruks gathered and watched as out of the gate came a figure they were all wary of, Pugrish the Shaman. Following closely behind him was Ratlug the Swordsmith. Ratlug hefted the strap of a tightly wrapped up object on his shoulder as he and his boss moved towards the large circular platform in the center of the chamber.

On that platform stood Tugog the Dreamer, Skak Blood-Axe, and Ishga Blood-Storm who stood beside the platform's lever.

Behind the two Storm Captains came two oddly dressed thin Uruks wearing Storm Colors, one of which was quite thoroughly enjoying a cigarette as he and his partner wheeled a large, slightly slanted table towards the central elevator behind their Captains.

On that table was a none too happy Yang Xiao Long strapped to its surface and obviously not liking the situation she was in. After some downtime spent in her old cave with Mulgrim the Ultra Camera Master Extraordinaire, she was apparently being moved to yet another prison. Apparently Krosh and Ogthrak wouldn't be joining them this time, with Krosh apparently taking some time for himself to screw around with his other slaves and Ogthrak not even giving an excuse, so instead she had these two skinny Uruks transporting her with the Storm Ruler and the Fake Doctor.

"Dreamer..." the Grand Shaman greeted as he approached the Warchief

"Pugrish, I take it things have been swell since the Arena?"

The Storm Ruler nodded as he came to a stop and looked up at his master while Ratlug stopped beside him.

"We have the girl, is Hork awaiting our arrival?"

"Yeah, he's at the courtyard near the top." the Warchief said as he glanced past them to watch as the two thin Uruks wheeled Yang onto the platform "He's been up there ever since he discovered his semblance. He's still a bit sore about being proven wrong in front of his subordinates."

"Because of those chiefless who showed up, right?."

Dreamer gave a small chuckle at that "Those idiots, playing with fire as they did." he glanced back to the Shaman "I remember your boy Maku taking two of them. Said you needed them for somethin'. Ya still got them? I'm picturing them in funny little outfits dancing around for ya."

"They are... where I need them..." the Stormbringer breathed as he gave a slow nod.

"Yep, Ogthrak's got them working well." Ratlug interjected before glancing back to the two Uruks moving Yang "She stable?"

"Yeah yeah." the Smoker noted as he and his partner wheeled the restrained huntress to the middle of the platform.

The two oddly dressed Uruks guiding her she had recognized as two of the Uruks Ratlug had working in that workshop of his back in the caves, only it had taken her some time to notice because their new attire was almost _too_ different from the uniform stuff they wore back during her brief visit.

Along with their blue trousers and hiking boots were what were clearly supposed to be long white hooded coats designed for winter, only the coats had most of their warming innards torn out and instead seemed despairingly thin. The Smoker, she didn't even know some of them had taken up smoking, had even ripped the long sleeves off his coat for some reason. Had they practically torn apart stolen winter clothes just because this tower was hot? Coco would cry at the sheer inconsistency!

In addition to their odd choice of clothing, the Researchers also had these hideously bulky guns hanging on their arms by shoulder straps. They looked just as odd as the apparel of their owners. The best way she could describe them was that they looked as if someone had taken a buck shotgun and melted it into a machine gun, the end result being just as strange as expected. In addition to those they also had four spears strapped to their backs too, something Yang had learned to associate with the Hunter class of Uruk Warrior, but these spears were odd. She couldn't quite put a finger on it.

The platform was excessively big, being more than big enough for several dozen Uruks or a smaller group and several pieces of cargo. As the fastest way up and down the Tower, it was mostly used by the Garrison to transfer materials for the near constant reinforcements they did. Once Yang was in the center, Dreamer nodded to Ishga, who pulled the Lever controlling the platform and causing it to begin ascending.

Well, if there was one good thing about this sudden transition, it was that this new place looked _utterly_ epic. It was pretty massive-looking from the inside, and looked to go up for a fair bit, there was apparently more to the tower beyond this massive chamber since so many Uruks were moving about. They were carrying blades or materials or ushering chained up captives. Light poured in from above, and there were a number of torches set up on the sides of this chamber which illuminated the rest.

Once the elevator began ascending, the Dreamer was ushered to one of its edges by the Storm Captains. Ratlug began gesturing to the bundle he had while the Shaman watched "As a thanks for that wonderful machine you granted us, the Stormbringer asked I make a lil' something for ya."

"Oh really, now?"

The Swordsmith cooed as he offered it to the Dreamer "Indeed, with all the dust you got for us I guess he figured something be given in return. After seeing what some of those crystals do, I felt compelled to make this glorious item."

Yang craned her head to try and get a better view as Ratlug shifted the strap off his shoulder and moved to hold it out to the Warchief.

"Oi."

A voice from in front of her brought her attention back to one of the Dreamer's underlings, who had walked in front of her while she was distracted. She remembered him and his partner from the Arena.

"Heh, now you's a lot prettier than the last tark we had here." he said before raising his axe and asking "Ain't she?"

She could hear the other red Uruk growling "Skak, don't you dare go near another prisoner, damn it!"

"Blood-Axe says you would be a tons better lookin' without ya limbs!" Skak laughed, before shaking his head "Now ain't he just the funniest type o' bastard?"

"Wait..." Yang narrowed her eyes as she recalled more things from the Arena "You were the guys who looked after Vel, right?"

"Yeah, me and Blood-Axe had to do most of it since Ish was busy keepin' the boys in line and all."

She briefly remembered the exhausted state Velvet was in when she first saw her at the Arena, until another thought pushed itself to the forefront.

"So you're the one who gave her alcohol?"

"Damn straight I am!" Skak suddenly said with vigor as he jerked a thumb to himself "Lass was talking shrakh about our grog! What kinda drinker doesn't defend their drink when right bastards be talking down to it?"

"Skak," Ishga grumbled as he moved from into sight while pointing towards the brawnier Uruk "I swear on the Dark Lord's name if you don't shut-!"

"But I's right ain't I?!" Skak shouted before turning to the two Storm Uruks who were flanking Yang "You two, if I were to start bad-mouthing the Grog you drink, what would you do?"

The Smoker pulled his cigarette away before mumbling "I'd kill ya."

The other Researcher gave a roll of his eyes before folding his arms "I would have to say murder."

The Axe-Wielding Uruk grinned down at the Blood-Storm "See? You should actually be thankin' me for pickin' one o' the least harmful options."

"Do not encourage this behavior!" the Smaller of the two shouted towards the Researchers before glaring at Skak "Our master's mercy is the only reason you didn't get the boot for such extreme incompetence!"

Skak didn't respond at first, blinking at the smaller Uruk for a number of seconds before grinning and raising his weapon "Don't you mean... AXE-treme incompetence?"

As Ishga tried to force his rage back into words, he was momentarily distracted by snickers. His head immediately snapped to the side to find Yang trying to contain her laughter.

"Heh, see?" Skak tilted his head to the side "The Tark gets it."

Ishga pressed a hand to his head in agitation "Skak, I've worked hard to help you for many long years. Why is it you seem to actively try and make my work hard for me?"

"I don't do it on purpose, Ish! I'm just acting the way that feels right." Skak said before chuckling "Honestly, with how long we've known each other I don't see why you'd even need an AXE-planation for my actions."

Gritting his teeth, Ishga glared at the blonde captive as she released several more snickers "You!" He shouted to her "Stop laughing this instant. I don't need anything reinforcing these unprofessional mannerisms of his."

Yang cut out her laughter once she saw the sheer rage boiling behind the Uruk's gaze "Fine, okay I'll shut up... if you AXE me nicely."

She and Skak devolved into more laughter as the Blood-Storm growled "Do either of you not see what the stakes of this-"

"No no, Ish!" his bulkier cohort interrupted "I think asking nicely would be an eye-opening AXE-perience for ya!"

"What do you hope to accomplish with this nonsense?!"

"Careful there, Skak. Your pal looks like he's getting AXE-hausted from all this."

As the two continued spewing forth terrible Axe puns, the two Storm Uruks flanking Yang watched on with only passive interest.

"What exactly are we seeing here?" the Smoker asked the other Researcher, who merely shrugged at the question.

"Not sure, but I hate it with every fiber of my being."

This continued for some time until they reached the top, the elevator coming to a stop at the upper courtyard which led to the headquarters of the Garrison. Only today it was far more crowded than usual.

Lining the edges were dozens of Garrison soldiers whose eyes fell upon those on the elevator the moment they arrived.

Skak and Yang's laughter soon died under the critical gaze of so many of the Black Gate's Defenders, many of whom were very distinguishable from the average Uruk as far as Yang could tell. She'd spotted a few of the heavily armored Uruks with black striped war paint on their way up, mostly shouting at others or brandishing their weapons towards their captives. She'd seen more and more of them as they ascended, but now they were utterly surrounded by them.

Directly ahead of them on the other side of the courtyard was the Garrison Headquarters, which was grabbing onto the top of the tower like a massive tumor. As soon as the Blonde's eyes reached the top, they became curious. The top of the Garrison HQ was covered in this dark Aura, and everything this Aura touched was growing. It was odd to compare the building to a plant, but she had no other ways to describe it. Sandstone blocks and supports seemed to form slowly, the building was growing taller the more she stared at it.

The Aura causing this seemed to be trailing down along the edge of the building, down its front and along the courtyard before ending at a massive Uruk sitting down in front of it. Flanking him were two Uruks, one heavily armored like the rest of the Garrison yet much more muscular if his proportions were anything to go off. The other was severely under-armored compared to the rest, but besides that the only other identifying thing about him was the odd helmet he wore. The armored Uruk had a noticeably large sword strapped to his back while the other had what seemed to be a simple spiked club.

There were also several things flying in the sky above them, but Yang couldn't focus too much on them before Dreamer steppped forward.

"Hork! We have her."

The massive Uruk looked up at that, and she immediately realized just how much she wasn't prepared for this situation.

"Krimp?!" she said out loud before she could stop herself, the Dreamer and his underlings immediately looking to her in shock as the massive Uruk narrowed his eyes.

Even Skak immediately distanced himself from her as she began glancing towards them in confusion.

"So..." the angry Krimp look-alike spoke slowly as he arose "you know my dimwitted brother."

And yet the hole she was in just kept getting deeper.

"Oh." she began, before glancing to the Dreamer who, along with his underlings, was very pointedly backing away from her "Oh..."

She then turned her attention to Hork and sighed "Ohhhhhh..."

"If you know of him, perhaps you know of my other kin." Hork commented as his tree-like legs began drawing him closer to her "A stupid peon with a bottomless gullet that you may know as Ashgarn the All-Eater."

"If I were to say I didn't know who that was you wouldn't believe me anyway."

"And I suppose you would also know that recently, he apparently met his end." Hork stated, the heavy thumps of his feet hitting the ground below and crushing the sand making her instinctively wince.

"I mean... it was a couple weeks ago so..."

"And perhaps..." he came to a stop in front of her and gave a deep breath "You'd like to remind me who it was that took his life?"

"If it makes you feel less murderous, I'm technically not the one who killed him."

"I know... and it doesn't." Hork grumbled before stepping away and glancing towards the crowd of Garrison soldiers "Tuka!"

A tall berserker was shoved out of the crowd by several of the other Uruks, immediately scrambling to his feet and making his way over. As he drew closer, Yang began recognizing his face, despite the new black striped warpaint on it. Wasn't he-?

"I don't see why we need confirmation from a chiefless of all things." Ratlug scoffed, with Tuka's frown deepening noticeably at the slight

"I don't like him or the fact that he still breathes." Hork muttered before glaring at the fake doctor "But the Storm has proven untrustworthy in the past. If you speak truth, then there won't be reason to worry."

"I know, obviously." Ratlug said as the Berserker wandered closer and glared at Yang "Just seems pointless..."

"She's the one alright!" Tuka claimed before putting his hands on his hips and smirking "She worked with the White murderer who did him in sir, no doubt in my mind that they-"

"I get it!" Hork spat, causing the berserker to flinch back

Tuka backed away from the aggravated Warchief, bumping into something and turning only to jerk away from a curious Grand Shaman.

Under the sudden gaze of the Stormbringer, Tuka began inching away from them "Well seeing as my work is done here...I think I'mma go take my leave right about now."

As the Berserker made haste to exit the scene, Hork sighed before turning towards his Captains "Dharg! Pigug!" he shouted to the two who had flanked him previously before gesturing towards the restrained human "Take her!"

Dharg began bowing fervently in response to the demand before rushing to comply, with Pigug giving several thoughtful grunts before doing the same.

"Wait!" Yang yelled out as the two Captains grabbed either side of the board she was restrained to and began wheeling her towards the HQ "I'm sorry about your brother, really I am! But he was killing people!"

"He was an Orc." Hork scoffed "That's what we do."

Yang grumbled a bit before trying again "I know what' its like to lose someone close to you, but trust me when I say letting emotion rule you isn't-"

"He was not close to me, nor does his death rile my emotions." the Warchief stated angrily before catching himself and relaxing a bit "This is merely a formality. You and your pissant friends acted without knowing of the terror a Warchief of Sauron can bring upon you, as a loyal soldier of the Master it is customary to rectify such ignorance."

As Yang disappeared inside the large building, the Gate Defender turned on the rest of the Garrison "All of you back to work! This tower isn't going to fix itself."

At that his forces dispersed, many moving to the edges of the courtyard to leap over its edges. Hork walked over to one of such edges and watched as his forces returned to work on the plethora of catwalks that now covered the Tower.

Ever since gaining the vast assortment of metals provided by the Train, Hork had immediately set out to use that metal. His blacksmiths worked around the clock armoring and refining the weapons of his army, but never using more than needed. The true use of the Train's metals would be to replace the weaker portions of the Tower's walls and yet again reinforce others.

As such, once the weapons were mostly finished, the Garrison had busied themselves by setting out to make the Desert Tower look more like home, which meant large, intimidating, dark metal everywhere. Yes, under his watch it would soon fit right in as one of the many strongholds of the Dark Lord.

Thinking about the Dark Lord and how infuriated he must be with him for deserting his charge made Hork's frown deepen, even as he noticed Tugog and his lackeys approaching.

"I take it we'll be having us an execution soon?" The Dreamer asked with a pat of his hands

The Garrison Commander merely glared back at him before letting his gaze fall upon the Storm Captains "I suppose you two will be taking your leave then?" he asked, ignoring his old companion's question.

"What? No 'Thanks' for handin' over the girl?" Ratlug asked while folding his arms as the Stormbringer stepped forth

"No...we stay..."

"Excuse me?" Hork asked as he turned to look down at the Shaman, his confusion mirrored by Tugog.

"Ah, yes." Ratlug said as he saw the looks both of the Warchiefs now sported "I was planning on telling you both beforehand, but the Grand Shaman does enjoy his dramatic withholding."

"Explain, Swordsmith." the Black Gate Defender demanded

"Actually, I've gained the title of Sawbones recently-" he paused upon laying eyes on the agitated Gatekeeper before sighing "The Storm wishes to aid you in the reinforcement of your Tower, as a form of gratitude for givin' us the two train cars and all that dust."

"We don't need assistance from your kind." Hork grumbled

"But ya do need resources! That train ain't gonna be enough for this entire keep, and we got ourselves a very... lucrative supplier. Me and my researchers will simply take some notes on where you need 'em, have your boys fill us in on what they could use and whatnot."

The massive Uruk looked as if he wanted to argue, but Tugog just shook his head as Skak and Ishga walked over with Ratlug's Researchers following close behind "Hork, come on. They already gave me this." the Dreamer said as he gestured towards the lengthy, wrapped up object in his arms "Are you really one to turn down gifts at this point?"

"From the Storm? Definitely." Hork nodded before gazing at the wrapped object "What even is that thing?"

"They say its a weapon that channels dust, I've absolutely no idea how to work it."

"How exactly is a weapon you can't even use considered a gift?"

"I plan on learning of it through my visions." Dreamer said immediately before giving a small, self-satisfied smile "I've been learning to focus them a bit, as long as I keep the weapon in mind while resting, I'm positive I can learn more of its uses through dreams. If you think about it, your gift is far more straight-forward, isn't it?"

"Indeed," Ratlug chuckled as he slid over to his two underlings and wrapped an arm around each of them, "me and my boys'll be as quiet as can be. Ain't gotta worry none about anything!"

"Fine." Hork said with a resigned sigh before turning his gaze on the Grand Shaman "Your Uruks can stay. But YOU have no reason to be here."

"I...was robbed."

Hork blinked at the statement, and gave a small shake of his head before narrowing his eyes "Excuse me?"

"While here..." The Grand Shaman patted at his robes "someone's made off... with my journal."

"Oh no," Ratlug chimed in with an impressed whistle "that is _very_ bad."

"You've literally been here for about ten minutes," Hork muttered "how in the world did anyone even have the time to-"

"I refuse to leave... until I locate my possession."

The Warchief growled at the Shaman as he felt an eyelid twitch with irritation "You can't just-!"

"My search begins now."

Before Hork could admonish the Storm Ruler for his actions, the robed Uruk was already walking off to look for his apparently missing journal.

The Gatekeeper restrained his grumblings of rage, fists clenched in righteous anger.

"Well... guess me and the boys'll get to work then." Ratlug chittered before leaning down to his researchers "Come on boys, we's got us some things ta do!"

As the Swordsmith lead them away, the remaining Uruks turned towards the infuriated Gatekeeper.

"Lying little bastard," Hork grumbled as he continued glaring at the back of the Shaman, then turned to look questioningly towards the others "Seriously, who even had the _chance_ to rob him?"

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

Making sure not to arouse too much suspicion, Tuka slowly worked his way down the tower using the various staircases and ladders instead of the massive lift in its central chasm. Clutched in one hand was a wrapped up rectangular object, in the other was one of his axes which he twirled merrily as he drew ever closer to the store room he and his unwitting allies slept in.

The beds he and Uthug originally had in the Garrison Barracks somehow kept winding up with deadly insects crawling about in them. After the third time the Musket-wielder had to be treated for paralysis, he'd finally convinced the Berserker that a change of sleeping conditions was necessary. Oddly enough, their Slave hopped on the idea immediately as well. Something about waking up dangling over the edge of the tower catwalks for the past week or so, probably just Tark worries.

Glancing around, Tuka finally slipped into the little store room and began frantically unwrapping his prize as he let the door close behind him.

However, a bruised hand held the door open before it could close fully.

"Come on!" Uthug shouted as he hauled a limp White Fang Grunt into the store room "We're almost there, Tark!"

"So tired..." she groaned "Just let me die."

"Oh don't be a baby." Uthug bit before dumping her against a nearby stack of broken wooden furniture "Of all the things that've happened to you recently I'd think this would be the least dangerous."

She didn't respond, instead focusing on catching her breath. Uthug turned to Tuka with narrowed eyes "Oi, wonderin' where we've been?"

"I've never wondered that once in my life, no." Tuka responded as he slowly uncovered his prize

"Just sneaking barrels full of grog all over the shanties with our bare hands." Uthug commented as he raised his hands and nodded towards several of the new blisters "We had three to carry, and without you there I ended up hauling two at once."

At that the Berserker glanced back to him "Why not make the Hybrid carry the extra one?"

"Are you kiddin' me?" Uthug blinked before jerking a thumb down towards the Faunus "She's nearly dead on her feet from carrying one! She'd probably break in half if she tried hauling two, and I don't need that."

"Because we're forming some kinda weird camaraderie through mutual suffering?" the Faunus offered

"No, because if you kick it then I'll be carrying _three_ barrels all on my own." the Warrior said back to her before jerking a thumb towards Tuka "Past experience already taught me that he's gonna leave all the sufferin' to me, so I kinda need you."

"Listen man, can you at least pretend to enjoy me in some way?" the White Fang grunt asked before sighing "You're literally the only semi-positive emotional outlet I've managed to find in this scenario."

"I want you to pause and think about how utter shrakh that implies your situation is right now." Uthug said before turning to Tuka "And _you_ need to get us out of here before we all die."

"Are you still on about that?" Tuka called back as he stood and turned to look down at the Warrior "I had hoped you would learn something from our time spent together."

"Oh I'm learning alright." Uthug said with a grimace "I'm learning just how much unrestrained anger an Uruk's physical body can hold. _You_ got us into this shrakh with Tarz and his smugglers, least you could do is help us!"

"I'm helping you idiots more than you know. I've already got a perfect way out of our little situation with Tarz." Tuka said as he raised a journal in one hand

"What is that thing?"

The Berserker grinned "Our new meal ticket."

"I'm just gonna remind you that the last one of those we had tried to kill all of us twice." the Faunus piped up as Uthug glared at the book.

"How exactly is a book supposed help us with Tarz?" the smaller Uruk asked

"A piece of information so tempting that Hork would overlook any and all of our previous transgressions," the Plan-Maker stated with a smug grin "rendering Tarz's threats moot."

"Oh please, what information would make someone like Hork not care that we technically murdered his brother?"

"The weakness of the Grand Shaman!" Tuka exclaimed

Uthug froze in place, eyes blinking slowly before widening in horrified realization. The White Fang grunt, on the other hand, just leaned forward a bit and asked "Who?"

"It was a matter of luck really." Tuka continued, even as the Warrior began shaking with terror "He just so happened to have dropped by-"

"Tuka..." Uthug began as his pupils shrank in disbelief "by the Dark Lord, tell me you didn't!"

"-and so I took my chance and used a bit of adept handwork-"

"No! No no! Tell me you didn't, damn you!"

"-and now we have what appears to be his journal," Tuka raised the book and grinned "who knows what kind of potentially devastating secrets the Stormbringer has written in-"

Tuka was interrupted as Uthug released a roar and lunged towards the Berserker.

"Woah, the hell did this come from?!" Tuka bit as he struggled a bit with the smaller Uruk "Get off of me!"

"You drag us to a tower full of trained killers who want our heads on spikes!" Uthug growled "Next your garbage attempt at covering your own shrakh ends up with us being indebted to a bunch of Smugglers!"

Tuka gained the upper hand and shoved the Musket-Wielder away from him, but the enraged warrior continued yelling.

"And your arse-backwards solution to the shrakh you put us through, is to flat out rob one of, if not _the_ most deadly Uruk in existence!?"

"Well when you put it like that it almost sounds suicidal." Tuka pointed out as Uthug fell to his knees in open-mouthed disbelief and roared to the heavens.

"HOW MANY PEOPLE NEED TO WANT US DEAD BEFORE YOU REALIZE WE NEED TO LEAVE!?"

"Okay, seriously..." the Captive Faunus said as she struggled to stand "The hell is a Stormbringer?"

"Our deaths! Our tormentor!" Uthug snapped at her before glaring at Tuka "Our damned end, that's what he is if this utter arse doesn't sneak his book back to him!"

"Oh relax," the Berserker waved him off before shaking the book in his hands "as long as you two keep the Garrison and Tarz's little associates distracted, I'll have all the time I need to find the weakness that so many an Uruk have sought before."

"You've gone mad in your denial!" The Musket-Wielder accused "You've no idea there's even such a thing in there! You ask us to let the Garrison continue trying to murder us while the Smugglers have us slaving away for their profit, without knowing if Pugrish even wrote about a weakness!"

"Who the fuck is Pugrish?" the Fang Grunt interjected "I thought you guys were talking about a Storm Shaman Bringer thing?"

"Not the time, slave!"

"Oh pipe down," Tuka called back to them "both of you. Just a few days till we've got a bargaining chip good as gold. You'll see I was right all along."

As Tuka opened the book and began reading with a chuckle, Uthug and the Faunus turned towards one another.

"So, mind explaining who the hell we've pissed off this time?" the Captive asked him

"Doesn't matter." Uthug responded with a groan of defeat "Be a damned miracle if all of us survive the week."

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

Upstairs in the Garrison HQ, Yang glared at the stone bricks of the surrounding walls as she was dragged along on her board by the Two captains. Somehow this felt even more demeaning than getting dragged about by Krosh. She looked up at the two Uruks holding onto her restrained form.

"So... what goes on here?" she asked

The one in the odd bird creature helmet gave a brief glance back at her before a grunt from the Armored one brought his attention back ahead. Their names were Dharg and Pigug if she'd heard correctly.

"You guys get prisoners often?"

This time, Dharg looked instead to his partner for a moment.

"So what kinda cell am I getting, boys? Do I get a window? Furniture? How about it Birdman?"

"Bird?" he glared back at her

"Dharg," Pigug began "don't give her the time."

"What? It ain't a bird?" Yang asked even as Dharg grumbled at the other Captain's words and looked away

Suddenly they came to a stop, Yang craned her head to the side and caught sight of a large set of double doors. Dharg shifted a bit and soon she saw him reaching forward with what she assumed to be a key, though it looked far more like an odd knife than a key. Honestly the idea that they'd even make their keys lethal shouldn't be so surprising to her at this point. Soon the doors swung open and she was dragged inside.

The first thing she noticed about her new lodgings was that it was pretty much pitch black, the only light coming from the hall they had just left. The second thing which became quickly apparent was the loud sound of wind, accompanied by what could only be tarps being battered by said wind. It had been relatively brigfht outside when they'd brought her in, so there must be exits that they'd covered up with something, right?

They dragged her farther from the comforting light before holding her up. After hearing the unmistakable rattling of chains and feeling something being attached to the board she was strapped to, Yang felt herself being hoisted up off the ground accompanied by a soundtrack of rattling chains. Soon the chains stopped rattling, and she was left to hover off the ground while her two escorts stepped back to look up at her. Framed in the light from the door, the two gave her suspended position some consideration.

"So what?" she asked "You're just gonna leave me here?"

"Of course not," Pigug grunted "that wouldbe ridiculous."

He then nudged his bird-helmet wearing friend, who nodded before crouching down.

And then his aura began shifting.

Yang winced as Dharg gave some grunts, his aura began acting wonky in ways she didn't know it could. It began expanding from his back, forming a new shape which began wiggling to free itself from the Uruk's body. The Young Blonde could only watch in open mouthed disgust as the aura split from his body and took the form of some mini dragon flying thing that she had never seen before in her life.

Immediately Dharg righted himself as the creature flew up to Yang, who shifted away as it landed atop her suspended board and perched itself there.

"What the hell is that thing?"

"A Hell-Hawk." Dharg grunted before raising a hand and tapping a finger against his helmet "Recognize it?"

Huh, so it wasn't a bird after all.

Yang stretched to put as much distance between her and the creature as possible, no matter how minuscule that was given her condition "So you guys just grow those things out of your bodies?"

"Good lord no." Dharg shook his head before pointing at her accusingly "This is just one of the many side effects of your world's foul witchcraft. The master's orders are for us to make use of these deformities the best as we can, so we have"

"Wait... so this is a semblance?" the brawler frowned deeply in disbelief before glaring up at the creature, which glowed with an aura similar to Dharg's "How the hell is THIS a semblance?!"

"Enough." the Other Captain grumbled before turning for the door "Dharg can see you through that creature, so know that we'll have dozens of guards charging in here the second he spots misconduct."

"Why doesn't your boss just kill me now? I helped down his bro, you all have me chained up and stuff. The hell is he dragging this out for?"

"Insolent!" Dharg shouted "The Master's machinations are obviously to grand for such inferior thinking!"

"We're leaving." his partner stated before glancing up to Yang "Get comfy, feeding time ain't for another nine hours."

Yang sighed as the two left, the last thing she saw before the door closed and bathed her in darkness was the Hell Hawk craning its neck down to look at her.

* * *

 **Two Days Later...**

 **Vacuo- Abandoned Village of Vishton**

Sand shifted under the shoes of the three companions as their eyes traveled towards the center of the decrepit buildings around them. One paused near a fallen sign in front of what's now an empty Saloon, kneeling beside it before peering inside the building with a look of sadness.

Meanwhile, one of her companions took the time to shift the thin cloak she was wearing to reveal a slightly tussled head of white hair.

"Okay..." Weiss began before glancing to the third party member "so if their hunting parties passed through here then where would that place their potential routes of travel?"

Blake shifted before opening a small notepad and flipping through several passages "One leading to Valthur's Tower in the east, but that can't be the one-"

"Submerged in Quicksand during the war as part of Faunus retaliation, I know."

"Then we could try Sid Meir's keep."

"That's a fort, not a Tower. Doesn't match up with the description at all!"

Two days... they'd been searching for two days.

Their original routine was simple, immediately find a group of people and ask them about Uruks. Unfortunately the ones who did know of them had no idea where their Tower could be, as the raiding parties that did end up tearing through communities attacked from seemingly random directions and left the same way. With the way the wind constantly obscured possible tracks, it made following nearly impossible.

So instead they asked for which town was most recently hit and started their search there.

Using Blake and Weiss's combined knowledge of history they listed out an adequate number of possible places which could be housing their quarries. Despite the many keeps and forts which had rose and fallen in this land during the war, they were certain they'd find something.

But their first search was a bust, merely leading them to a toppled spire which was housing a number of Young Deathstalkers. It had taken them two whole days to get that far.

And only now were they beginning to try finding the second possible holdout.

Trekking the desert was no simple task, they had to stop and rest in a number of caves and ruined buildings to wait out a number of sandstorms and had to continuously refer to their knowledge of the constellations to guide them.

Ruby turned away from the partially buried saloon sign and turned to her teammates. They'd decided to get Weiss a cloak from a travelling merchant early on in their search, just in case they did come across the Uruks. Even covered in a layer of sand, Weiss was far too noticeable even in this environment. Though she'd complained at first, the Heiress begrudgingly accepted her new attire. Blake had also donned something of similar nature, wishing to protect as much of her body from the merciless sun.

Seeing the two of them debating so thoroughly on where their next destination should be, it honestly made the Red themed youngster feel bad. She was grateful they were helping, even more grateful that they'd gone along with her obviously flawed plan, but she just felt as if she wasn't pitching in as much as she should've. Though a prodigy in actual butt-kicking, she had required the aid of her seniors many times when it came to the mountains of paperwork offered at Beacon. Hearing them go on and on about these places she knows she should recognize only solidified the idea that she wasn't offering as much as she should've.

Sure, when they came across those Deathstalkers she'd been right in front spinning and slashing away, but after that she went right back to having them try and pinpoint possible locations. She'd wanted to help them, but their recollection of history surpassed her's by a frightening degree... and she hated it. They'd risked everything following her suicide mission after all, she didn't want to seem like dead weight.

With a sigh, the Scythe-Wielding teen entered the saloon. She knew there wouldn't be much if anything to find, she just needed some time alone. As expected, the furniture and benches were broken or toppled, a bunch of broken glass lay along the bar. A number of old looking stairs led up to the second floor, and sunlight poured in from holes in the roof. It was as quiet as could be expected, with Weiss and Blake's conversation growing distant the farther in Ruby walked.

This was one of many recent times she's had to think on her own, what with Blake and Weiss having their moments of comparing and contrasting knowledge of past events. She forbade herself from questioning whether or not it was a good idea to come looking for the Tower, for her sister. She knew from experience that she'd just talk herself back into it. No, what she considered was whether she should've told her teammates of her plans.

She had no doubt that if she'd gone on her own she'd just end up wandering Vacuo's vast deserts hoping to get lucky and run into some Uruks, but at least then it would only be her suffering. Even with their knowledge of the area, it had taken two full days for them to search just one of the many places Yang could be. She remembered what Bubol said, about how those Storm Uruks were probably going to hand her over to Hork. They had those portals, so how long could it possibly take for Hork to kill her?

She could very well be dead by now... and they'd just be walking right to the Warchiefs for nothing. And if Hork found out that Weiss was there then-

A single crunching sound from upstairs caught Ruby's attention, snapping her out of her worried thoughts. Eyes glancing to the stairs, she briefly glanced back to the door and could hear that her teammates were still deep into their hypothesizing. When she heard the sound again, Ruby swallowed her worries and raised Crescent Rose.

After ascending the stairs, the huntress in training could hear the crunches much better. It was somewhat similar to teeth chewing through something hard and solid, something she'd seen Grimm do when they were searching rubble for humans. Perhaps a young Grimm had come looking for people, not realizing that this place had been long since abandoned. The noises were coming from a room three doors down, and she began slowly approaching it. If she could only offer help through the slaying of Grimm then so be it, the others wouldn't have to worry about this one.

Pushing open the door with Scythe extended and ready, her initial charge was halted upon spotting the completely unexpected individual in the room.

He was slumped against a broken wall through which one could see outside to the rest of the town, a concerned look on his face as he brought a familiar rock hard fruit to his teeth and began biting into its stone-like surface. His eyes were closed for a moment, apparently trying to focus on the taste of the stone-like treat in his hand. But when he opened them, he immediately locked gazes with the young girl as he slowly swallowed.

"KRIMP!?" She shouted in shock as the Uruk's worry turned into fear and he immediately launched to his feet before barreling towards her "Woah, wait hold on-!"

She readied Crescent Rose to defend herself, but he shifted directions at the last minute and plowed through the wooden wall before taking off for the stairs. Not willing to let him get away, Ruby did the best to shake off her shock and go after him.

He was already halfway down the stairs when Blake and Weiss burst into the Saloon weapons-raised, having heard their Leader's shouts.

"Ruby!" Weiss began before recognizing the speeding Uruk "What in the name of-?"

"I'll be out ya hair in a jiffy!" Krimp shouted as he began taking the stairs two at a time "Don't got no need to-!"

As he ran, one of the stairs broke under his foot. Krimp immediately reached for the rail to halt his sudden fall, but his weight was too much and he ended up plummeting straight through the stairs. Soon the rest caved in on top of him.

As the dust settled, Blake and Weiss glanced to Ruby, who stood at the top of the now destroyed stairs looking equally as confused as them.

Feeling their gazes upon her, she swallowed quickly and said "I just-! He was just lying back there!"

Before she could explain further, Krimp began rising from the pile of wood while massaging his neck. He seemed to be doing it more out of nervousness rather than any actual pain, but he soon found himself at the end of the Monochrome duo's blades.

"Sorry I messed up ya place, buddies." Krimp said as he brushed some more of the wood off himself "I can try fixin' it for ya-"

"How did you know we'd be here?" Weiss demanded "Have you been following us?"

"Wha- No!" the Uruk denied before rising some more "I was having me a snack here, didn't even know ya'll were near."

As he spoke he gestured to a parcel at his side, a quick look proved that it was full of Bhura Fruit. Ruby leaped down to the ground floor before approaching "Krimp, what are you even doing out here? Weren't you back at Beacon with Ozpin?"

"I left." he replied simply

"You what?" Blake was not convinced

Krimp looked between the three girls before shrugging "I heard what was happening through the good professor's desk! I heard Gundza, he said that Weissy over here killed me youngest kin, so I left."

That made the three girls go silent for a moment, and soon Weiss felt her Teammates glancing towards her as the massive Uruk continued looking at them. So he knew... Weiss had been theorizing how exactly this would go down ever since she'd realized who exactly the supposedly friendly fellow was related to.

She'd killed his brother, she didn't exactly know how Uruks responded to things like that. They seemed to respond to everything else with aggression of some kind, and if she were in his situation and lost her sister... she'd probably do something similar.

"So..." she said slowly, pausing momentarily when Krimp looked down at her "Did you come to avenge him?"

"What? No, why would I do that?" Krimp asked giving her a confused look, surprising the girls at just how casual he said it "I left to offer me brotherly support to me big bro! But it's been so long since I last saw him... and we didn't really leave on good terms, so I was psyching myself up! Gettin' me'self all pumped up and ready to be the moral support and all!"

He continued radiating that boundless cheer, as if he wasn't speaking to his brother's killer and her accomplices. Blake cast a slightly confused look towards the heiress, while Ruby seemed stuck with a look of pure disbelief

"Krimp... I killed your brother." Weiss spoke slowly

"Yeah? And?"

"Didn't you care about him?!" Ruby demanded, breaking out of her disbelief with more anger than her teammates had anticipated

"Oh of course I did, he was me flesh and blood. When we came outta the spawn pits, the little guy was clinging ta me the entire time. Tried eating my ear off, what a little rascal he was!" Krimp laughed at the memories before turning back to the hooded girl "But he's dead now. I've gotta worry about me livin' kin."

"So just because he's dead," Blake began "you... don't care that we killed him?"

"Well I can't really be friends with the dead now can I? Once ya dead, you's gone for good unless the Dark Lord chips in to help ya back to the land o' the livin'." Krimp explained simply "We ain't got no Dark Lord here, so I can't get 'em back. I would think you girls would know about priorities and such."

The girls were all stricken silent for a moment, each of them digesting this new information in their own ways as their weapons began lowering. The Faunus eyed her teammates, as they both had siblings of their own. Weiss managed to hide her disgust fairly well, but Ruby seemed to be choking on the idea that the Friendly Uruk had spouted: The idea that one could just not care for lost family. The young reaper stared at the smiling Uruk, eyes trying desperately to find some form of insincerity in his gaze.

"Say, what were you all doin' all the way out here anyway?" Krimp asked, apparently unaware of the drastic change of atmosphere "Its pretty far out of the way, so-"

"Wait!" Ruby suddenly spoke, trying to ignore the sickening feeling the Uruk had given her as she walked up to him "You said you were trying to psych yourself up to go help your brother?"

"Yep!"

"Does that mean you know where his tower is?"

"Yepidoodles!"

"Could you take us there?"

Blake and Weiss shared a glance with each other before the heiress stepped forward "Ruby..."

But their leader ignored her and continued "Can you?"

Krimp blinked at the suggestion for a while before his shining smile returned "Ah, what an idea! Yeah." he began nodding before turning back to Weiss "I bet if you and big brother talk it out, maybe he'll forgive you for slaying our little brother! Then you guys might make great friends!"

"Yes" Weiss let out a deep breath before giving a weak smile of her own "great friends."

* * *

 **The Shanties**

Uthug released a heavy breath as he finally lowered his side of the wooden plank, behind him he could hear the White Fang grunt give a squeak of effort.

"Just drop him, already." he called back to her before turning his attention ahead of him.

They'd just finished dragging a long wooden plank through the Shanties and into the double doors of a large warehouse type structure built next to the bottom of the crevice right across from the Tower. Officially, this building was used to store the large amounts of resources often mined from the crevice. The same resources which had gone into building most of the ramshackle buildings that made up the relatively large shantytown which had grown at the base of the Tower. Unofficially, however...

"Is that the one?"

On a wooden platform above, Tarz grinned down at them while several other Uruks in Aprons behind him gathered in interest as well.

This was apparently the central hub for Tarz and his gang of Smugglers, which was made up of the other more medically inclined and Grog-savvy Uruks who made the Shantytown their home. The types who couldn't live without indulging in abusing tarks and grog, who could manipulate other Uruks with their vices. Since this building was already designed for mostly storage, there was ample room to hide their ill gotten goods and distribute it to the thirsty masses.

It was also where they'd have their little parties.

Tarz and the other Smugglers loved cutting up Tarks, so as part of their agreement Uthug and the Faunus found themselves quite frequently sneaking Slaves to them. Like the unfortunate sod currently gagged and chained to the wooden plank. Of course, with only two of them one could only imagine the difficulty of actually transferring him to the Smugglers.

"Yep, can we go now?" Uthug asked

"Aw, don't want to stay and watch us carve this piece up?" the Surgeon asked with a tilt of his head as he jumped down to them and quickly pranced over to the subdued captive, who gave a muffled scream at the plump Uruk's awful appearance.

"No," the Warrior glanced back to the Faunus for a moment "I think I'm good for today."

"Hmph," Tarz was unimpressed, but folded his arms and shrugged "very well. Don't need no more things for now, so you two may go rest up till we require your services once more. I plan on taking my time with this one."

"Oh thank god." the White Fang Grunt wheezed as she bent down to massage her ankles " My legs are so sore I just-"

"Then give them to me."

One of Tarz's underlings had snuck up behind the Faunus while she was distracted, and she quickly reeled back from the short Uruk as he let his crossbow dangle to the ground. He looked her up and down before nodding "You give me your legs, I take your place and carry for you. Won't have work, nor sore legs, ever again."

"She'll pass." Uthug said as he grabbed the Slave and dragged her out through the double doors with him.

The Crossbow-Wielding Uruk glared after them for a moment until he heard Tarz call out.

"Tumhorn, come help us tie this poor bastard up somewhere!"

The Archer rolled his eyes with a distasteful click of his tongue before he went to offer aid.

"This is bullshit!" Slave shouted as she and Uthug walked through the many clusters of ramshackle buildings on their way to the Tower.

"I know." the Uruk replied as they passed a circle of gambling Uruks

"This place is a hellhole!"

"I know." he said a bit louder while ignoring a drunk Uruk passed out against a nearby wall

"We have to get out of-"

"Damn it Hybrid!" he turned on her "Can'T you say something I don't know already?"

She paused and placed her hands on her hips "Well I'm right! Why are we still here?"

"Look, if we leave and get caught leaving, the Garrison has full license to tear us apart. I need a distraction, and I'm trying to find one, but you're bitching and whining does not make it easier!"

"Fine, then what about Tuka's-?"

"Don't even bring that dim bastard up." Uthug turned away and glared up at that Tower "Ever since he got that Journal he's been obsessing over it's contents, locked away in the storeroom with the damn thing. Yet he still insists he hasn't found anything useful yet! At this point he's practically asking for the Stormbringer to stumble upon him."

"The weird robed guy I've seen wandering around, right?" She asked before resting against a nearby shack "The hell is his deal anyway?"

"His deal is that he can probably wipe us from existence with his pinky toe," Uthug groaned as he instinctively reached back and took hold of the musket strapped to his back "and with his boys looking over Hork's stuff its only a matter of time till they stumble across Tuka's shite and we all get annihilated!"

He sighed before releasing his hold on the weapon and glaring down at the ground.

The White Fang Slave waited for several seconds before asking "Hey, you okay?"

"...I'm getting a drink."

"What?" Slave was taken aback by the sudden suggestion, but Uthug just looked up with sudden determination before walking forth

"I'm pissed, so I'm getting a drink. Come on." the Uruk stated as he continued on his way.

The Faunus took a brief moment to glance around before following after him.

* * *

Weapon trained on the Uruk in front of her and flanked by her teammates, one would be unable to properly describe the tension Ruby felt as the trio followed their joyful guide.

Not once since following Krimp into the desert had the girls let him escape their sight. They all remembered how shockingly slippery the childish Uruk could be, and his claim to somehow have gotten away from the Headmaster did little to settle their nerves. Despite the sheer lack of hiding spots the desert offered, not one of them felt inclined to try chasing him down again.

If his joyous march was anything to go by, Krimp took no issue with their caution. Occasionally he would glance back at them with a smile, but so far remained on a steady course.

They passed several large dunes and even had a bit of wind at one point, but so far the only interesting thing that popped out to them were the few cacti and other stubborn plants that sprouted up occasionally. Slowly the monotony wore away at them, they could only keep their unfazed guide in sight for so long before the repetition would get to them. Slowly but surely, the barrels of their weapons began lowering as they made way.

If Krimp noticed, he didn't comment.

Ruby bit her lower lip, the anticipation slowly but surely rooting itself in her psyche "So Krimp..." she said suddenly before searching for a topic for several seconds "what's your brother like?"

Weiss and Blake turned to her for a moment before the Uruk spun around to face them with a grin. The trio paused as he clapped happily "Oh! My big bro's one o' the most dedicated soldiers of Sauron out there!"

Initially put off by his immediate explanation, the girls merely lowered their weapons some more as Krimp turned back and resumed his march.

"He's so very loyal he is! Works his bum off to please the Dark Lord as well as he can." Krimp explained as he resumed leading them "He built up a ton of forts and strongholds over time, made each and every one of 'em solid as a mountain for the Dark Lord's army."

"Which means it'll be even harder to infiltrate one of his keeps." Weiss said with a sigh

"Yep! He pays attention to everything from structure to materials used, area, climate and all that buildy-type stuff." Krimp sighed at what must've been happy memories "Before he became a Warchief, he only built stuff as a hobby. Now he can fortify a copper shack into a nigh impenetrable bunker if ya give him the time."

"This Tower should be much bigger than a shack." Blake said before muttering under her breath "But given how much time he's had..."

"What was he like before his promotion?" Ruby asked, having picked up on the brief mention of the Warchief's past

"Oh he was a go-getter, loved bein' in the midst of massive battles with his axes swinging through men, Elves, and Uruks too." Krimp said before pausing and sighing "He always loved hangin' out with me and Ashy, starting some ruckus and fighting any bloke who stepped to us wrong. Hork the Mangler he was called then, for good reason too. Just adored causing trouble then fighting for his life in that very same trouble..."

"How exactly does one go from a rambunctious rabble-rouser to a dedicated, hard working loyalist because of a single promotion?" Weiss asked

Krimp gave a nervous little whine before grinning again and saying "Well, its a little more complicated than that. That definitely started it, but me big bro suddenly started getting... scared."

"Scared?"

"Not of any warrior though! Once Warchief, Hork became more aware of the dangerous position he was in. Warchiefs are placed under much greater scrutiny from the Dark Lord's underlings, and he didn't feel as though he could get away with the same shtick. There were a lot of little things that kinda built up really quickly, but I guess you could say the greatest change came after he lost his best Archer Trainer."

"His Archer Trainer?" Blake asked before going silent for several seconds while she looked down, after some time she raised a curious eyebrow "You don't mean-?"

"Yep, I see you got it! He lost Bubby!"

Ruby's grip on Crescent Rose instinctively tightened as the diseased face of that title's owner clawed to the forefront of her memory "What... what happened to him?"

The Uruk sighed as he tapped two of his thick fingers together "Well, see it all starts with Bubby's former captain, Stakuga. One of his rivals had him infected by some odd disease, but Stakuga didn't want anyone to know 'bout it so he had his Healers stay quiet and whatnot to save face while they tried to cure him. But then one of his captives escapes, and the poor bloke tried pursuing them to prove that he was still as tough as nails! But... he didn't come back for weeks."

"This disease... is it the same one Bubol has?" Blake asked

"I was gettin to that part, lassie." Krimp giggled before looking up at teh sky and continuing "Now Bubby was already gettin' praise for his skills with a bow and everything, me big bro already had plans to test him for a promotion, but Bubby's a go-getter too! He saw opportunity in his captain's absence, thought that the old bird was in trouble or something. He was sure he could use whatever was holding him up to kill him and take his position, but things got a little hectic..."

 _Tracks lead down here boss..._

 _Why would the Cap'n go down here? Was his slave really stupid enough to try hidin' in a ruined city's sewers?_

 _Shh... do ya hear that?_

"Bubby and some of his boys tracked old Stakuga to a city that had already been raided and all. Followed his trail down into its underground, but by the time they found the Captain his disease had grown to the point that it had affected his noggin'."

 _Captain? The hell is that stuff growing on him?!_

 _I've seen this before... how'd he keep this hidden for so-GAH!_

 _Take him down boys, don't let that stuff get in your eyes!_

"I guess in the end Bubby did what he'd set out to do, they ended up killin' Stakuga... But Bubby caught his sickness in the process." Krimp shook his head before looking back at the girls "Now believe me when I say that Bubol's a tough customer, but he didn't have the raw physical power Stakuga had. With how many wounds he'd suffered killin' his old boss, and the other sicknesses he may have gotten while huntin' in such a place, that disease had him on his knees far quicker than it would've most other Uruks."

 _By the Dark Lord, what happened to him?!_

 _It claws in the skin! In my skin! I feel it chew through my veins!_

 _He just... He wanted us to help him end Stakuga, my Warchief. He wanted to prove himself!_

"Unfortunately, most of me Brother's healers were aiding a massive hunting party in exterminating a large number of beasts which had settled near his keep. The only medically inclined Uruk close enough had been visiting from far away. We'd been lucky enough that the Grand Shaman and his buddy Ratlug had been accompanying their Warchief on some business."

 _Hork? What are you doing here? I thought we'd be meeting up in the mor- Is that Bubol?_

 _Can it Dreamer, I'm here for him! Shaman, can you help him?_

 _Hmph, of course you'd only demand the master's aid when put in such a critical-looking situation._

 _Stay out of this Ratlug!_

"The Shaman." Ruby's mind flitted back to several days prior. He was the one who had nearly fed Velvet to that Grimm, the one in robes who had pinned Yang to the ground.

"Now me bro don't like the Stormbringer and 'is boys, and even back then he never trusted 'em, but the Shaman and Ratlug were the only ones with even a chance to help Bubby. He was the Greatest Archer around, and no doubt me bro would rather try anything than let that disease just kill 'em, so he turned him over to them. They took him into an adjacent room and demanded seclusion while they worked. But..."

"But what?"

Krimp paused at that before placing a finger to his lips "Oddly enough, Bubby says he gets a little fuzzy on the details when he tries recallin' what happened while they was fixing him up. But he wasn't the same afterwards, started getting cravings... and not even the regular murder type cravings. He stopped focusin' on the killin and focused more on the feelin', at least that's how I like to think of it. Anyway, his knew views didn't line up with me bro's and they kinda had a lil' fallin' out."

"Wait wait," Weiss intervened with a skeptical look "if they fixed him then why does he still look like a mutated potato threw itself down a flight of stairs?"

"Oh they didn't get rid o' the sickness," the Uruk giggled as he began trekking up a rather large sand dune "just made it so it wouldn't kill him. From the boltin' they put on him I'd say they cut out the most lethal growths and stunted it with something. Won't stop it from spreadin' give it the chance."

"But that would mean he's more of a carrier then." Blake pointed out before her eyes widened in sudden worry "Krimp... just how contagious is he?"

"Oh don't worry lassies! I've hung out with Bubby lots of times and I ain't gettin sick any time soon!" the friendly fellow giggled before hastily adding in "Just don't go beddin' him any time soon."

The girls went quiet at that, with Weiss shaking her head and sighing "Of course, of course that would be it."

"Yeah, that's actually what drove him out of me Brother's good graces, kept finding slaves all bloated and dead-like." Krimp shook his head as he neared the top of the dune "Bubby didn't even deny it when accused, he's just honest like that!"

Ruby shuddered a bit at the thought of the poor captives who had been subject to Bubol's 'cravings', but her thoughts were derailed once Blake placed a hand on her shoulder and shook her a bit "Don't worry Ruby, he's locked up."

"Yeah," Weiss followed up before raising a finger "With any luck, he and the rest of those barbarians will be stuck in the Arceus by the time we get back."

Ruby quirked her head to the side a bit in curiosity "What's th-?"

"We're almost there!"

The three looked to see Krimp at the top of the Dune pointing ahead. Stowing away her question for later, Ruby hastened to catch up with her teammates following close behind.

Once she reached the top, Ruby paused as the sight ahead off her almost took her breath away.

In the distance she could see it, rising above a massive canyon like a needle ready to sow a wound closed. The Tower, reaching high into the sky with a patchwork of what she assumed was scaffolding running along its walls. They were still too far away to make out anything else, but this looked like it... Hork's Tower.

"The Tower of Bruma the Third."

Pulled from her state of awe, Ruby glanced to the side to find her partner in a similar yet more refined state of amazement "I'd had suspicions but..."

Ruby called upon her history lessons with Professor Oobleck, Bruma the Third, Bruma the Third... she could recall hearing the name somewhere... A quick memory of Blake standing up to read a passage during Oobleck's Class worked its way to the forefront.

 _Also known as the Lord of Lies, Bruma built his grand tower along a canyon which was said to house a ferocious Grimm. He told the people of his keep that the beast would protect them as long as they appeased it with the unwanted. What he failed to tell them was that the beast in question had actually been slumbering for decades, and that those they tossed into the canyon to please it were often those that disagreed with Bruma's method of rule. He created a religion around this ideal of the Protector, and allowed the majority of his people to believe that the creature would bless them in battles with other Grimm or neighboring people. However, consistent failures on the battlefield eventually withered away the people's faith until they began demanding answers for the lack of response from their so-called protector._

 _Bruma had hoped the problem would sort itself out, but his silence only spurred the detractors on further. Questions became accusations, accusations turned to violence. As riots began in the massive keep that Bruma's people called home, the growing swell of negativity was enough to finally wake the creature from its slumber. The Grimm tore Bruma's kingdom apart, dragging much of it into the canyon it had been resting in. Once the beast's rampage was over, it left only the Lord's tower behind to weather the passage of time._

"This place shouldn't even be standing." Weiss commented as her partner tried piecing together the tale from what she knew.

"Oh, you'll just love it!" Krimp chittered before pausing to rub at the back of his head "True, I ain't been here in a while but me bro knows his stuff when it comes to fixin' places up!"

With that Krimp began descending down the other side of the dune and, after taking in the view of the restored tower, the girls followed behind him.

Not too far behind them, a nondescript little scorpion crested the dune. It centered its gaze on the group before clenching its pincers and trailing after them.

* * *

"Is this... a bar?"

The two story shack was a similar cobbled together amalgamation of stolen materials and sand stone like the rest of the Shantytown, in fact it only had one distinction from the other buildings: The Kegs.

An average looking Uruk with a knotty beard stood before a row of kegs at the far back, a bunch of tables had beeen set up and a number had small groups of Uruks all drinking.

"This ain't a bar, Slave." Uthug grumbled as he stopped halfway in and turned to look down at her "This is a drinkin hole."

"So... a bar? Where you go to buy drinks and chat each other up?"

The Warrior narrowed his eyes "Is that what you lesser beings do while drinking?"

"Well damn, fine. How do you drink?"

Uthug lowered his gaze and shook his head in disappointment before gesturing to the row of kegs.

As the two neared, the Uruk standing in front of the kegs folded his arms "Well if it ain't Tarz's little liquor runner, fat man working you and the Hybrid hard?"

"Give me a Keg." Uthug stated

"An entire keg?" the White Fang Grunt Exclaimed

The Keg watcher seemed humored, "Lad, if you think I'mma leave you alone with a whole-"

Uthug stepped in extremely close until the other Uruk could feel the growls emanating within the back of his throat "I've risked my skin for days makin' sure you and the rest of Tarz's bottom-feeders have all the Grog you bastards could need, right now I'd like nothing more than to enjoy some of the fruits of my own blood and sweat."

At first the Grog Watcher's smile flickered only briefly, but that changed once Uthug pressed their foreheads together and dared him with his glare to do something.

"We both know that any of Tarz's gaggle of idiots could replace you in no time, so denyin' me some sort of recompense shouldn't sound like a choice you wanna make."

With the angered warrior pressed so close to him, the Keg Watcher swallowed before giving a tentative growl of his own. However, under the un-withering glare of the Musket wielding Uruk, he relented with a groan.

Soon Uthug dragged one of the kegs to a table far in the back, with the Faunus following behind him while keeping an eye on several groups of Uruks who had taken note of his actions.

As soon as he sat down, Uthug caught sight of them as well and soon they were returning to their own activities.

"Since when did you actually start getting threatening?" the White Fang Grunt wondered allowed as she sat down across from him

"Since that bastard Tuka dragged my patience out of my body and executed it." Uthug grunted before prying the top of the Keg off and reaching for a small mug on his belt

"Well at least you're getting something positive out of this," she sighed before glancing around and leaning forward "so how are we getting out of this dive?"

"We? I've told you before that there ain't no we." the Uruk said sternly before filling his mug and taking a quick drink before pointing to her "I asked Tarz to help with ya hand that one time, that was it. You want help gettin' outta here? Do it yourself for Lord's sakes. I'm only stuck with you until I get out of this hole Tuka's dug us into.""

The Captive didn't seem pleased with that answer, but bit down on the annoyed rebuttal. Instead she watched the Uruk drink for a moment before leaning back in her chair and sighing.

"Honestly, he's gettin' worst. He didn't even wait until we screwed things up with Tarz to get us into deeper shrakh. At this rate we won't be able to go ten feet without pissing off some big name." Uthug put down his mug to clench his fists on the table "He gets to drivel on and on about how that book'll be our way out of this mess, has the time to obsess over every single page while I have to deal with the consequences of his bullshit!"

The Grunt raised her bandaged hand "Didn't you guys used to work together or something? How'd you deal with stuff then?"

Uthug paused in his seething to look at her for a moment "I didn't have to deal with his shrakh back when we served Captain Ashgarn, he was too busy trying to suck up to the fat bastard to care about regular warriors like me. Far as I know we only chatted a few times, and not a one were of the friendly sort. He was always dreamin' big, I guess. Except back then none o' his plans ever had me in them! Now I gotta deal with all of it!"

"Wait... if you two hardly talked then why is he always ragging on you for being weak and stuff?"

"He just doesn't approve of my methods!" the Uruk shouted before reaching for his mug and taking a drink.

The Deer-Faunus raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to finish his drink before asking "Methods?"

After refilling his mug, Uthug quirked an eye to her before groaning and patting himself on the chest "What am I wearing?"

This immediately brought a bitter taste to the Fang Grunt's mouth, she hadn't commented on his choice of apparel because she knew he'd had to have gotten that uniform off the body of one of her fellow freedom fighters. Over time she'd slowly thought on it less and less as their situation continued to spiral, but putting it on display immediately brought back surges of the anger it originally sparked.

So after swallowing, she met his glare point for point "That... is the symbol of Faunus freedom."

Uthug glanced down at his dirty White Fang uniform before shrugging "Didn't have to go all pretentious on me but fine." he then reached behind him for the weapon strapped to his back and drew forth the musket "Where ya think I got this?"

This gave her a little more trouble. She'd honestly thought he'd had it made for him, but as she thought about it she realized that she hasn't seen any other Uruk use a gun. There were plenty of sharp and blunt weapons, and after reaching the Tower she'd found plenty of Crossbow wielders, but Uthug was the only one using a gun.

"You stole it..." she said after some thought "You had to have stolen it."

The Uruk shrugged "Close enough, I didn't take it off the corpse but I guess you could say I got it from a dead tark."

"You what?"

"Yeah, see we was huntin' some o' your pals through a village. One of the idiots defendin' the place had this but he was shrakh at fighting and got himself killed. Captains didn't want it so they tossed it to the crowd before the Huntsmen showed up. I figured real quick that these guys'd be a handful and didn't want to end up like the rest of me crew gettin tossed this way and that, so I nicked this baby and ran."

"That's... you..."

"And for the clothes, took 'em off some hybrid me mates downed when we caught a few patrollin'."

"You're a looter." she put together "That's why Tuka thinks your a coward."

"I prefer _survivor_ , I ain't no coward at all! I just like to think I know when not to put me life on the damn line. That so-called cowardice that Berserker Shrakh likes to spout on about often leads me to some comfortable scenarios I'll have you know. Lets me nab some good meat before the idiots I work with burn down the store it was sold from, helps me replace my weapon with better ones so I don't have to rely on cheap junk in a battle, and don't get me started on how many wounds I've been able to avoid."

"So you just sit back and profit off those who _do_ have the will to fight?"

"Exactly! And while the rest of them feel nice and comfy rollin' the dice, I'm sitting comfortably with a silver mug of grog clenched in my grasp" he raised his mug for emphasis, and at that point the Deer-Faunus realized he actually was the only one there with a metal mug. The ones used by the other Uruks were mostly made of wood.

"You stole that too?" she exclaimed "Is there anything on you that hasn't been stolen?!"

"Looted," Uthug corrected before leaning back "And what do ya want me to do? Leave the dead with all these useful trinkets? Oh yeah, because they're gonna get so much fuckin' use out of 'em. I don't think you of all people have a right to badmouth my style of livin'."

"And what does that mean?"

"Just look at ya'self, woman! Even when Zog first showed up luggin' your arse around you was small and weak. How the hell did you stay alive during battle?"

"For your information, I was a lookout. I made use of my frame and I did it because we fought for something!"

"Well congratulations, Hybrid. You fought for something and now look at where you are now."

"You're here with me!"

"Exactly, fightin' for somethin' didn't really change your outcome from mine much now did it?"

Grimacing, the White Fang Grunt stood from her chair and growled at him "What would your younger self say if they saw how you turned out?!"

"I'll have you know that I decided how I was gonna handle battles back when I was in training. Even told my trainer, and he respected the shrakh out of it."

"No I mean when you were younger than that."

Uthug gave her a questioning look, imploring her to elaborate.

"Like... ugh, like when you were seven or eight! Would little you be proud of where you-"

"Pfft," Uthug interrupted her "I've only lived for about six years."

And with that one statement, the Faunus's entire rant was immediately overwhelmed by sudden and brutal confusion. The Uruk took another drink of Grog while waiting for her to continue, but she seemed frozen in place by the unexpected revelation. He raised an eyebrow at her once the silence began irking him.

"What... did you say?" she finally asked

"I said its been about six years since I got dragged out of me spawn pit, so I don't know what you're going on about 'little me'."

"You're only six?!"

"Only?"

"I've been getting ordered around by a six year old!?" she wailed before placing both arms on the table and dropping her head into her hands

"Ya know I'm still more than capable of snappin' ya neck with my bare hands," Uthug pointed out as he glanced down into his mug and swirled the liquor around a bit "I don't see how my age changes anything really."

"It does!" the Faunus insisted

"Heh," the Uruk grew a small grin "Just another reminder of how superior we are. We don't have to deal with the weakling stages you humans call 'youth'."

While he shook his head and laughed in a mix of pity and humor, the White Fang Grunt gritted her teeth "I wasn't weak when I was six."

"By the Dark Lord," Uthug lowered his mug a bit to give her a questioning look "are you really gonna sit there and insinuate that you as a child could somehow be compared to me?"

"My brother trained me!"

"Ugh, I actually can't wait to hear this."

"He taught me everything I know, taught me how to protect myself and survive!"

"As a tiny weakling I'd probably accidentally step on without noticing." Uthug went for another drink

"How to serve my people and help keep other Faunus out of the Sex Dungeons of Beacon!"

Uthug paused, the mug mere centimeters from his lips, before slowly turning to the Slave and asking quite simply "Excuse me?"

"The dungeons those filthy humans set up in the Combat schools where they reward their warriors with the bodies of my people!"

The Uruk blinked at her, wondering for a moment if he had heard her incorrectly, before setting his mug on the table "What?"

But she seemed rife with conviction as she balled her hands into fists "In order to make sure I'd never end up like one of them, he made sure to teach me all about how to take down those racist monsters that infest our planet!"

"Your brother taught you all this?"

"Yes! And that was only part of the knowledge he granted me!"

And just like that the mug was back in the Uruk's hand, only this time he was leaning forward with thorough interest etched into his features "Oh please, I just have to hear the rest of this, truly."

* * *

They were on the wrong side.

That had became more and more obvious the closer they got to the canyon separating them. After shaking off the awe of seeing such a grand structure rise high into the clouds, the three girls had immediately began conversing on just how they'd make it across the great divide between them and the Tower.

Krimp didn't even bring up the issue, continually walking until finally coming to a stop several feet from the very edge and placing his fists on his hips.

"Ah," he sighed after taking a deep breath of the air "smell that buddies? That's the smell of perseverance."

"Funny, smells more like heat and dehydration." Ruby pointed out as she shielded her eyes and walked over to the Uruk "Krimp, how exactly are we going to get to the tower from here? I don't see any bridges. And who knows how long this canyon even is?"

"Too long for us to go around it in ample time." Weiss immediately answered

But the Uruk remained sincere, only giving a slight shake of his head "There's a rope ladder along this here cliff somewhere, take us about a few minutes to find it." he said before pointing down "We'll take it down into the shanties and cross there!"

"Shanties?" Blake questioned as she and Weiss approached as well

Together, the girls followed his finger before simultaneously going wide-eyed.

The bottom of the canyon was stuffed with ramshackle shanties consisting of sandstone, woods, metals and various other bits and pieces. Even from up there they could spot numerous forms moving amongst the spaces between the structures, many of which were moving around the base of the tower the shanties seemed to spread from.

"Are all of those...?" Ruby began

"Do you even need to ask?" Weiss commented with a dejected sigh as she took in the sight of the numerous Uruks.

Ruby was still resolved to find her sister, had accepted the possibility of finding herself against a numerous opponent; But even so, the sight of the many things which still lie between her and Yang struck a chord of instinctual fear she had to fight to keep from blossoming. So she shifted her eyes from the Uruks and instead tried plotting a way through their structures which would offer the very least resistance.

As she did, she caught sight of much smaller things flying between the rooftops of the various shanties. Seemed even Vacuo's wildlife had integrated with the merciless creatures. And as she looked at the rooftops, she noticed several ramps going up and over some of the sturdier buildings.

As soon as her gaze rose to the Tower, she caught sight of one of the many catwalks that had been built up along it as Hork's underlings worked to continue improving it. She'd spotted what looked like open cave mouths at the bottom of the canyon, probably mines of sorts. She assumed that's where they kept getting the resources to fuel an operation such as this, and she didn't want to think about what they could be eating.

But as she looked upon the admittedly well done construction, she noticed more of those dark things flittering about the catwalks as well... and at this level she could see them much clearer. Those weren't any bird she'd seen before, in fact... from the way their proportions looked they didn't seem like regular birds at all. They definitely weren't Grimm either so...

"Hey Krimp," she asked "your bother have a thing for birds?"

Krimp looked down at her and followed her gaze before realizing what exactly she spoke of "Oh!" he gave a small laugh "Those are Hell-Hawks!"

Ruby blinked before looking past her towards her teammates, who still seemed preoccupied by the large numbers of quarries they'd have to get through. She "Hey guys, what are Hell-?"

"They ain't from your realm, Lassie." Krimp chuckled, before pausing and giving a thoughtful frown as he turned back to look at the dark shapes "They's from Mordor... But I don't recall any of us having those things when we came through, and definitely not enough to breed this many of 'em."

Before Ruby could ponder on this information, Weiss gave a groan and turned on the Uruk "Krimp, there's got to be some other way across. One wrong slip down there and we have an army coming at us from every side."

"Sorry Weiss me ol' chum!" Krimp shrugged, unaware of the wince of annoyance the Heiress gave at how he addressed her "This is the only way I got!"

"You've been gone for some time, right?" Blake commented "Your brother's a builder, so maybe they built something to make crossing easier while you were away."

"Possible," Krimp raised a hand to his eyes and peered along the edge of the canyon "but I don't see one."

"Better check a bit closer before committing to going down th-" Weiss paused mid sentence before glaring down at something and shaking her leg a bit.

At her sudden silence, the other three turned before looking down at a scorpion at her feet. Having fallen on its back when she'd dislodged it, the creature was now frantically trying to push itself back onto its legs.

Weiss paid it little mind, taking only a step back from it before glancing back to the others and preparing to continue.

"Aw, Weissy." Krimp said as he knelt down to the creature.

"Krimp, as one... _friend_ to another. Could you refrain from calling me that."

Flipping the Scorpion back onto its legs, Krimp watched as it immediately continued scuttling past them "Sorry miss, its just that it seems a shame for him to get stuck like that. He followed us all the way here after all!"

"What?" Blake asked

"The bug, he's been skitterin' and skatterin' behind ya since we left that little village. I was impressed at the lil' guy's determination."

Blake's eyes immediately glued themselves to the apparently persistent Scorpion as it crawled towards the edge of the cliff. Without even hesitating, it crawled right over and fell.

"What an odd thing to notice." Weiss commented as she tightened her grasp on Myrtenaster, looking away from Krimp only when she noticed Blake walking towards the edge with worry marring her features "Blake?"

Blake didn't know why, but at that very moment she placed her finger on Gambol Shroud's trigger as she stepped closer to the edge. It was a suspicion that even she knew could be a stretch, but she took a peak over the edge anyway.

And watched as a lit fuse dissappeared into a thick object which seemed strapped to the side of the cliff.

"GET BA-!"

An explosion covered the cliff in a cloud of sand, which tumbled down towards the shanties below along with broken pieces of sandstone. Below, the many inhabitants of the Shanties looked up from their various activities and glared at the plume of sand.

But one glare came not from the shanties, or even some of the Uruks working on the Tower, it came from an Uruk who was clinging to the side of the cliff a few dozen yards away from the growing cloud of sand. His teeth were bared and fury raged in his eyes as he dangled from the side of the sandstone wall.

"I wish I could believe that killed you." Gundza muttered under his breath before releasing his grip ever so slightly and beginning his own descent, eager to catch up to them before they could manage to slip from his grasp once again.

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

"How do you keep letting these morons walk all over you?" Ishga seethed as he stepped from a massive set of double doors which served as the main entrance into the Tower. He immediately ran his eyes over the Uruks and Shanties scattered around the Tower's base, moving out of the way of two Garrison members as they and some slaves carried several large bundles past them inside.

Following behind with nary a trace of his partner's worry was Skak, "The boys? They've been workin' hard, me an' Blood Axe decided they deserved a good drink."

"They have posts they need to be at!" Ishga hissed "Of all the negligence you've somehow gotten away with in the past few weeks, allowing your men to go gallivanting about with grog will not be one of them."

"Negligence? I think me and Blood-Axe have done swell."

"Bah, just yesterday I found you eating our Master's meal!"

"Look," Skak walked in front of the hunter and halted him with a hand before leaning back "I took the damn food to him, but he was still sleeping, tryin' to get that weapon thing the Shaman gave 'em to work. You know how he feels about being woken up, so I figured I wouldn't bother him none. Perfectly reasonable!"

"Then why did I find you halfway done with his food?!"

Skak blinked at him slowly before smirking "I mean... he didn't say I _couldn't_ have it."

"Unbelievable!" Ishga threw his arms to the sky before pointing to the buff Axe-Wielder "See here, we are going to-!"

A distant blast cut the Blood-Storm off mid sentence.

The Blood Duo and the many Uruks around them all turned to the large cloud of sand which trailed down the canyon wall opposite of the Tower.

"The hell?" one said

"We under attack?" another grumbled whilst unsheathing his sword

Ishga and Skak both watched the cloud grow large, then slowly begin to disperse. The Larger Uruk lifted his weapon to his ear and listened to it for a moment before glancing towards his partner "Now uh... me and Blood-Axe are pretty sure that wasn't our boys who went and did that."

Ishga gritted his teeth and drew a spear from his pack "Shut up and follow me." he ordered before taking off through the winding passageways of the Shanties. Skak gave his weapon another look before following his partner towards the commotion.

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

Deeper inside the jungle of structures, a group of red painted Uruks were sitting around a table in the drinking hole. Their drinking and merry-making had been interrupted by the blast, and now the group was waiting. Another Uruk with similar body marks ran into the building and immediately made for the table.

"The shrakh is goin' on out there?" one asked him

"Big ol' blast on one o' the canyon walls. Got everyone up in arms!" the runner explained before grinning and gesturing for the exit "Come on lads, if we's lucky this'll be an attack and we get to bust some heads!"

"Shouldn't we be goin' to find the Captains first?" another asked

"Knowin' them, Ish'll already have Blood-Axe on his way." one with a very pronounced scar on his chest cackled as he stood and made for the door.

As the Blood-Brothers filed out, several other groups also went to check out this new phenomena. Excluded were two in the far back who were almost unfazed by the sudden sound of a distant explosion.

"-And when a human comes of age, there guardian will kidnap a faunus to murder!" the White Fang Grunt continued on "They teach the child all about how to extend the victim's misery for as long as possible!"

Uthug finished chugging down another few gulps of grog as he leaned forward in his seat and stared the Faunus in the eyes "And not a bit o' that sounds exaggerated to you?"

"You're a monster from another world!" she exclaimed "Your concept of exaggeration could be completely different from mine!"

"And yet somehow I'm still capable of seein' the shrakh your kin seems fond of breedin'."

"Excuse me?!"

"Yeah, even _I_ can realize what a load of shrakh all of these teaching are!" he rolled his eyes before looking into his mug again "I'm honestly impressed."

"How dare you, my brother did all of this to prepare me for when the Humans start openly using us for food again!"

"How are you not hearing the stupidity of any o' this?!"

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

A crowd of Uruks had already gathered near the rubble left from the blast, many of which waving particles of sand from their eyes as the cloud continued to settle. Much of it had landed not too far from the entrance to a mine, and the Uruk running it was already spewing curses as he pushed past his brothers to get an assessment of the damage.

"Great, just great..." he spat as he looked it over "Covered up several bags of minerals. Gonna have to fish them out when movin this shrakh."

He turned to the growing crowd and snarled "Who was it?! Huh? Which dead bastard went and did this!? Take us forever to clear this! Gonna have to-!"

"Look!" someone in the crowd shouted as he pointed towards the rubble.

The Mine Runner paused in his spiel to turn back to look at the rocks and sand. As the cloud continued to disperse, something became clearer. An arm... a thick Uruk arm was protruding forth from the pile.

"Some poor sod got caught in it." the mine runner said slowly before turning to the crowd and continuing "So as I was saying, WHICH DEAD BASTARD DID TH-!"

The covered arm clenched tightly, and soon a large figure burst free from the rubble.

Their eruption was so quick the the Mine Runner actually jerked forward and raised an arm as bits of rock flew past him, but the moment the aggravated worker lowered his arm... his anger was replaced with a mix of pure terror and shock.

"Hi there buddies!"

Mixed emotions spread like wildfire amongst the crowd of assembled Uruks as they stared at the creature now arising from the Rubble

"Sorry about the mess!"

Some immediately bared their teeth in anger, others inched farther and farther away from the pile, still others were caught in between those two extremes. At one point a group of red themed Uruks had arrived, but upon seeing Krimp immediately drew their weapons in preparation for some kind of altercation.

"Don't right know what happened, but Krimp ain't one to make a mess and leave!" the Jolly Uruk chuckled before growing a confused look on his face "Even... if I don't rightfully know what happened really."

There was silence for a moment... with the crowd locked on Krimp, who was trying to recall what exactly led to that explosion.

And then the Mine Runner turned tail and darted away from him as quickly as he could.

Some watched the Uruk scamper out of sight, and quickly followed his lead to put as much distance between themselves and the Warchief's Brother as possible.

One who remained shook his head in disappointment before pointing his club towards Krimp "You aren't supposed to be here, Friendly." he said "Hork don't want none of your trouble anywhere near him!"

Krimp's smile returned, only with a tinge of nervousness "I know that! Me big bro's great at giving orders!" he grew a determined look "But even so! If I ain't there for my brother during a family loss, then we ain't brothers at all!"

"Get the shrakh out of here!" another shouted

"After I talk to me bro." Krimp stated with a smile, and prepared to start walking forward when a dry voice rose

"What is this?!"

Many turned to see an agitated Ishga marching through the crowd towards Krimp, with Skak not too far behind "I come expecting a loading malfunction, an attack by Humans, Grimm or all of the above, and yet here I see you of all Uruks dragging misfortune back into our midst."

Krimp blinked and gestured towards the rubble "Ish, I don't think I did any of-"

"It doesn't matter if you did or not, I demand you leave immediately and return to your wanderings before your incessant stupidity ruins something else!"

"But I need to see-!"

"Krimp!" Ishga shouted over him "You will turn around, and climb out of this canyon immediately! Your brother is in no condition to deal with you on top of all else... leave... for him."

The massive Uruk grumbled a bit, dissatisfcation radiating off him like an odor "Well... if he's not feeling too good. I guess I'll come another time."

The Hunter groaned "No, Krimp you don't under-"

"I just wanted him to make up with me new friends."

That gave the Blood-Storm pause, and his indignation turned to riveted concern in an instant "...Friends?"

"Oh yeah, I brought some new pals of mine with me to make up with him. Kinda lost track of them in the explosion though so..."

Ishga's eyelid twitched a bit, as he slowly gestured towards the Friend-Maker and asked in no unclear manner "...Who?"

"Oh ya know, Ruby, Blake, and Weiss. They've been havin' a bad time with us lately and I thought if I could get Weiss and big bro to reconcile for the whole Ashgarn thing, then they could make up."

The Hunter felt that he already knew the answer to the next question, but even as he choked down the inferno of malice inside of him he was positive he needed to be clear on the matter "And... _what_ exactly would they need to reconcile about Ashgarn?"

"Ya know, on the fact that she killed him."

Ishga released a roar as he slammed a balled up fist into the Friendly, but quickly turned away to the crowd and called out "Ashgarn's slayer might be runnin' freely in our home with her band of miscreants! I want alarms raised by whoever finds them first! Kegs of grog to the lads who bring em in! We won't cater to interlopers!"

Roars of agreement sprang up as many of the Uruks took off to begin searching. Groups began forming, cheers for new action were invigorating the masses of the shanties to a degree not seen since the Chiefless Exodus.

Ishga passed by Skak as the Axe-Wielding brawler called his blood-themed underlings over to begin searching as well.

Atop a building nearby, Gundza peaked from behind a partially built section of wall and ground his teeth together. He'd been prepared for the unfortunately likely scenario that the persistent little children would survive whatever attack he initially launched against them, as they'd done it several times now at an infuriating rate. But now the entire population of the Shanties were out hunting for them as well.

On one hand he'd learned by now that taking them on all by himself was guaranteed failure, so this overwhelming numbers advantage was clearly a step in the right direction. But now he had to make sure he found them first! If any of those other globs ended up catching them then they'd get all the praise he's been struggling for! Oh he could say that he was the one that got 'em stuck here in the first place, but he didn't know anybody here who would back him up in front of a Warchief.

Except Krimp maybe, but he'd already put too much stock in that creature already.

"Hey lads!" came a voice from below

Gundza looked down to see a group of Uruks forming.

"All them other blokes scouring the streets! I say we's checks in the buildings before them other globs start! Untouched trove o' hidden tarks I tell's ya!"

The Shadow gritted his teeth before turning away and running to the edge of the building. With a quick bend of the knees he leaped to the next shanty and clawed his way to the top.

Can't get lost in thought here, too much competition.

After climbing to the top, he made for the next building in a similar manner. He was unaware that a pair of eyes followed him from the lopsided window frame of a nearby building.

Tumhorn the Slaughterer was what many called him. He'd been given that title for being the unofficial bodyguard of Tarz the Surgeon, and being as capable in amputation and meat chopping as his boss. Turning around, Tumhorn leaned over the railing of a walkway. Below, on the ground floor of the warehouse he and the other Smugglers often had their fun at, Tarz was sharpening one of his many cleavers.

"Hear that, Tumhorn?" the Surgeon asked before smacking his disgusting lips together and grunting "Everyone's up and in a tizzy over these pinkskins. Maybe we's gettin' the boys together early today."

"In daylight?" the Slaughterer pondered before giving him a skeptical glance "We have schedules for a reason, sir. Operating in literal broad daylight seems risky."

"Yeah, but if these are the lassies who did in ol' Ashgarn..."

The pig faced Uruk ran his finger along the freshly sharpened blade of his weapon in anticipation "...they might have a bit more flavor to 'em than the usual."

Seconds later he threw open the large doors of the warehouse, with Tumhorn and several other Uruks in tow.

His hideous visage was stretched into an expression of glee as he gestured back towards his followers and took off.

"Warchiefs and these bootlickers of there's don't know how to handle a freshly caught tark!" he exclaimed as he ran, emboldened by the pounding footsteps of his posse behind him "We's gonna treat it nice and well for days on end we will!"

An Uruk poking around in a bundle of broken pieces of metal was momentarily distracted by the sight of the group running past, but soon grunted and returned to looking. If he were a Tark, he'd hide in a bundle just like this one, if he kept looking through them... it would only be a manner of time until he caught those delicious morsels! He was tired of eating whatever dumb shrahk bit it during Grimm Hunts, he needed softskin meat before he-

"Excuse me..." an odd voice spoke as someone poked the Uruk on the shoulder "I'm looking for something."

"We's all looking for the damn softskins!" he grumbled before brushing the hand away and turning to growl at this unneeded distraction "Why don't you go-!"

It was the Stormbringer.

"A book..." the Great Shaman continued in spite of the grunt's yell "I've misplaced my-"

With a screech of untamed horror, the Uruk threw himself back away from the Storm Ruler. His back pressed against the bundle he'd been previously searching through, but he wasted no time in scrambling up and over the obstacle and charged through the door of a nearby building which had committed the sin of being placed in a fleeing Uruk's path.

The Shaman merely blinked at the new Uruk-shaped hole in the door before sighing and scratching at his head. He'd give the poor sod the benefit of the doubt and assume he didn't know where his journal was. Placing his hands at his sides, the robed Uruk wondered where else he could look.

The Shanties were quite intrinsic, but if he took too long looking then he'd start getting on the Garrison's nerves. Well, more than he and his underlings were already. With another sigh, the Storm Leader turned and left to look elsewhere, unfettered by the many Uruks running to and fro tearing through the streets on the hunt.

They combed through as much open ground as they could, shoving past slave drivers and flipping over carts to remove as many hiding spots as possible. Several fights between the search parties broke out, but a quick shout or direction from another Orc would send them scrambling towards the next potential location of their prey in no time.

Watching the pandemonium unfold as the Uruks tore apart the land was a single blue eye peaking through a hole in the wall of a single shanty. It watched for only a moment before moving back and sliding an old filthy slab of sandstone onto the opening.

"Okay, we have about two-no, one and half minutes before they start kicking in doors." Weiss whispered before turning to her teammates and scowling "Would anyone like to tell me WHAT just happened?!"

Ruby was busy trying to draw out some form of plan on the sandy ground while Blake paced back and forth in anger, pausing at the Heiress's question "It was Gundza again, had to be. He had to have followed us."

"All the way from the Arena?" Weiss sighed "Give him points for persistence. As much as I'd wish to take the time to properly thank you for that save back there, our minute and a half is almost halfway gone, we need plans."

"Okay."

The two turned to Ruby, who swallowed before pointing to her hastily drawn images "So the shanties... they go on for a while but the distance between the Tower and the Canyon isn't a problem for us. Without the buildings we could make it in seconds if we tried."

"But we have buildings, and a Bloodthirsty Army." Blake pointed out

"R-right, I say we move from building to building towards the Tower." She finished, to the dissatisfaction of her partner.

"Ruby, they'll start checki-"

"I know!" the Silver-Eyed Huntress interrupted with a wince "We'll most likely have to book it the rest of the way, but the point is we give them as little time to converge on us as possible."

"What about when we get inside the tower?" the Heiress pressed

"I would've come up with a plan for that if the cliff hadn't exploded!"

"It'll have to do." Blake stated before taking a deep breath and walking towards the side of the building "Come on."

Ruby and Weiss looked towards each other for a moment before the Young Leader stood to follow her Faunus friend.

The Heiress merely shook her head with a scoff before standing up and going after them.

* * *

 **Inside the Tower...**

"By the Dark Lord they're loud." Ratlug stated as he sat up a bit more in a chair he'd dragged to the edge of the large, gaping hole in the center of the tower which the elevator traveled through. Even from the seventh floor he could hear yells of the Shanty populace as they skittered about, hard to ignore actually.

At his side was one of his researchers, kneeling beside the large hole and using a scroll to photograph the old pulley system of chains that was used for the elevator.

"Think a slave dropped some red dust?" the Researcher asked without pausing in his photography

"What, the blast?" Ratlug glanced to the researcher before lying back down "Who knows, maybe some dumb bastard thought he'd pull one over on some other dumb bastard and it went a wee bit off the rails. Could be anything, might give the master some fun, though."

"He's in the Shanties? Why?"

"Still looking for that journal o' his."

That made the Researcher pause, and he lowered the scroll before looking at the relaxing Uruk with genuine confusion "Still? I haven't even seen the glob eat or sleep since we got here-"

"Which is normal."

"But he's still going on about some dumb bundle of papers?"

Ratlug looked up for a moment, regarding the Researcher with a look of passive questioning "You were one of the younger... I'd forgotten. You didn't see what happened to the last bloke who it happened to."

"Sir?"

Ratlug laughed before sitting up in his seat and placing his cheek in his palm, elbow resting on his knee as he faced the underling "Let's just say, Lord help whatever dumb shrahk decides to open that damned thing."

* * *

"What brash idiot thought he could dip into the grog during a search?! Them Blood boys are up in arms, we need all the hands we can get!"

Ruby tuned out the growls from the ground below below as she shimmied along an overhanging set of wooden planks connecting two ramshackle buildings. It was designed mainly to hold up some tarps set to shade the paths below, which were currently crawling with Uruks. She was a light girl, but one look at how the planks had been erected reaffirmed that too much of a misstep would give her away.

Once she neared the opposing building, Blake reached out of a busted window frame and helped her in. She turned to do the same for Weiss, who had followed last, but the Heiress gestured for the two of them to hurry to the other side of the room as she climbed in.

Ruby understood her desire to hurry, what should be two or three minutes seemed to stretch on and on as they worked their way closer to the tower. More Uruks scouring the streets, more of those hell hawks flittering about, and more and more chances of being discovered. Truly the fact they'd gotten this far was a miracle she silently hoped would continue.

Blake was already across the room by the time Weiss entered, pushing through a curtain. Once Ruby followed after her, she immediately caught sight of a large hole in the left side of the room which dropped down into what seemed to be a surprisingly empty courtyard in the middle of a clump of buildings. Despite the crowded paths around them, she couldn't see anyone in this courtyard for some reason.

It made her pause for a moment, taking in the sight of a large ramp built in the center of the courtyard which seemed to travel up over one of the nearby buildings.

Weiss didn't seem to share in her confusion, as the Heiress wasted no time in nudging Ruby as she passed by to follow Blake. The Faunus was crouched near a door, peaking through a small crack. As the Heiress approached, Blake immediately held up a hand to halt her.

The Schnee was prepared to ask what the hold up was when her raven-haired teammate gestured for her to check.

One look was all it took to answer any rising questions.

In the room beyond, several Uruks were climbing up through a hole in the floor, many already overturning crates and debris looking for signs of them.

"Well this is just perfect." Weiss whispered as she and Blake backed away.

"We knew it would come to this." Blake sighed before unsheathing Gambol Shroud "We need to make a break for it-"

"Wait."

The Monochrome Duo turned to Ruby, who pointed to the courtyard "Out there, the ramp leads to the catwalks. If we take it we can make it to the Tower faster."

"But if we go up there we'll be in literally everyone's line of sight." Blake pointed out

"Yeah but if they're about to find us anyway."

Before Blake could reply, a shout of anger from the next room silenced the three girls.

"Gah! Stubbed me damn toe." an Uruk growled "You two get checking that room ovah there already!"

"Courtyard it is then." Weiss stated with a sigh before following Ruby out of the hole.

As soon as Blake hit the ground behind them, the girls immediately made for the ramp. All three were on gaurd, still put off by just how desolate this one specific section of the shanties was in comparison to the others.

"I spotted some of them with Crossbows, expect to come under fire once we get up there." Blake said as they neared the ramp.

"Do you think they'd get desperate enough to tear the whole thing down just to catch us?" Weiss pondered with a frown

"No," Ruby said while scanning their surroundings "At least, I don't think they'd do it on purp-"

Ruby ground to a halt suddenly, the action causing both of her teammates to turn to her.

Feeling their questioning gazes, Ruby swallowed slowly before raising a hand and pointing.

Following her finger, the other two spotted it.

With surprising silence, a robed figure was digging through a pile of garbage. It tossed something away from it and went back to searching, but after the item clattered to the ground it paused.

A hand on her shoulder prompted Ruby to look back at Weiss "Come on, let's go already."

"Excuse me..."

It was standing now, crouching low to the ground and gesturing to the girls with a hand that was also covered by the all-encompassing robe they had. Ruby had initially frozen at the immediately noticeable apparel, but now she was certain.

"I've lost my journal... have any of you young lassies... come across it?" The Grand Shaman asked in his odd speech

The unexpected question made both Blake and Weiss grow twice as defensive as they already were, but for Ruby she only felt anger as the memory of him pinning Yang to the floor surfaced.

"Where is she?" The little Reaper asked

The Shaman blinked slowly within the confines of his hood, his bright eyes flickering for a moment.

"You took her last time, where's Yang?!"

He lowered his hand "Who cares, do you or do you not have an idea as to where my journal is?"

"Forget the Journal! Where's-?"

"Then unfortunately... you have nothing to offer me at the moment." The Stormbringer shook his head before turning and kneeling back at the trash heep "Return to your... previous engagement..."

Ruby grit her teeth together, to be dismissed so quickly. She could feel her teammates' desire to leave, knew they were just relieved that he hadn't alerted the others immediately. But to know that one of the things responsible for all this could just brush her aside... it felt painful. But it wasn't as painful as the sound which suddenly filled the air: a horn.

Suddenly the girls were looking up to a figure standing atop the building they'd recently exited.

It was the first time any of them had gotten a good look at him without an aura of black obscuring his visage, but it was definitely Gundza.

The first thing that came to mind when noting his appearance was that he was pale as sin and just as bony. With his pointed ears, black eyes, bald head, and sharp teeth, he looked far more vampiric than any other Uruk they'd seen.

But as he drew the horn from his lips, they were familiar with the glare he sent their way.

Their reunion was cut short by the sound of dozens of pounding footsteps prompting the girls into action.

Which meant immediately turning back around and booking it up the ramp as quickly as possible.

Gundza clicked his teeth together as he watched them make haste, but his gaze turned downwards to the many Uruks who sprung into the courtyard below and gave the Stormbringer a wide berth as their attention was soon drawn up the ramp. Gundza was pleased to see that they took off after the girls with little hesitation. With how much they'd been avoiding this place due solely to the Shaman's presence, the Shadow was worried that they'd freeze up when forced to get into close proximity of him. Luckily, that did not seem to be the case.

His gaze settled once more on the fleeing girls "Now then."

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

They were faster...

That became obvious the moment they got over the sudden symphony of roars and jeers which seemed to rise from the shanties below as their occupants gave pursuit. Taking her eyes from the raised wooden platforms in front of her, Ruby spotted a number of Crossbow Wielding Uruks climbing atop rooftops and loading arrows.

"We got Archers." Blake pointed out before ducking as an arrow whizzed just overhead.

"Normally I'd say run in a zig-zag formation," Weiss commented from beside her before twisting out of the way of another projectile "But this walkway's a bit narrow for-!"

"Not escaping me again!"

A brief glance behind them showed something shoving through the gaggle of armed warriors in pursuit. Sure enough, Gundza sprouted from between two Uruks and immediately got to the front of the pack.

Two weeks ago Ruby would've offered a witty comeback about how he wouldn't be able to catch them at this rate, but she was dead set on reaching the tower first and foremost.

A hand shot out from under the walkway and latched onto Blake's ankle, before the Faunus or her friends could recognize the threat she was dragged off the side.

It was one of the Archers, clinging to the bottom of the walkway as he dragged Blake from it. She was sent sailing from the wooden platforms as the Archer reached for the crossbow strapped to his back.

"Blake!" Ruby called out to her as she spun Crescent Rose towards those pursuing behind them and opened fire "Weiss, can you-?"

"On it." the Heiress said as she prepared a glyph.

Gundza slid to a stop, forcing those behind him to halt as well, before drawing a spear and deflecting the sniper rounds. As he did so, his other hand went to a red tube at his side.

Blake unsheathed Gambol shroud and used both it and the sheath to knock away several arrows before taking a breath and activating her semblance. Soon a clone formed under her which she used to leap back towards the walkway. She spotted the archer who had pulled her aiming his crossbow towards her, and she readied to intercept them when suddenly-

"Not again!"

A spear entered her field of vision and, just a split second before she crossed her blade and sheath to block it, she saw the red powder coating it.

The explosion shook the walkway with enough force to make all those on it immediately grab onto something for support. For many it meant either the platform itself or the one closest to them, so as not to share the same fate as the few Uruks who lost their footing and were sent sailing into the Shanties below. Surprisingly, the walkway held under the force of the explosion, those still upon it began rising while the strained wooden structure settled.

When Ruby waved some of the smoke from her eyes, she checked to see her partner still at her side, though slightly shaken. Looking down she choked back a gasp after finding that Blake fared only slightly better than the Uruks who had been dislodged.

The Faunus had been thrown against the roof of one of the sturdier buildings below, metal caving under her body. The Faunus was still moving, her aura taking the brunt of the blast, even now she was trying to rise with utmost haste. Her eyes went to her teammates on the ramp above, but soon fell to the Archer who landed atop a roof several buildings away.

As he locked eyes with her and loaded an arrow, another Uruk with what she could honestly describe as the most hideous face she'd ever seen in her face climbed atop the roof behind him.

"Good work Tumhorn!" the vile-faced cretin said with cheer "I see a promotion in your near future if we nab this slab!"

Tumhorn offered a grunt "Why couldn't I have just sighted her from afar?! Positioning myself like that was far more-"

"No questions you idiot!" Tarz stated before nodding towards her.

Tumhorn sighed before raising his crossbow and setting off for the Faunus.

"Oi globs!"

Her attention was dragged back up to Gundza, who was now alternating between pointing to her and her teammates "Which one's an easier target, eh?"

With those words the seething mob behind him paused for several seconds. Tumhorn and his larger accomplice both looked up as well, before the hideous Uruk quickly turned back and shoved the Archer forward "Don't let them get her before us!

Seeing what he was doing, Blake immediately shouted up to her teammates "Go!"

"What?!" was their immediate, simultaneous response.

The mob seemed to start spilling off the side of the walkway as those more attracted to what they saw as the more easier target quite literally took the plunge.

"They know we're here now, you need to find Yang!"

"But we can't just leave you!" Weiss shouted before stepping past Ruby and raising a glyph "Just get back up here already!"

But as Blake watched Uruks start landing on rooftops and rise to pursue, she saw that Tumhorn had heeded the garish Uruk's advice and had halved the distance between them. Locking eyes with her, he quickly fired a bolt towards her which she sidestepped, not noticing the rope attached to it until he was already yanking himself towards her. The Sharpened prong pf his crossbow planted itself at her feet, and Blake immediately took the opportunity. She ran along both the crossbow and its Wielder before making a leap, if she could just close the distance between her and the bridge then maybe-

But Tumhorn acted as soon as he realized what she was up to, swinging back with his crossbow and catching her ankle in its mechanics before yanking her back to the ground in front of him as he drew another bolt from his quiver. She rolled out of the way as he stabbed at her with it.

"J-just-!" she tried calling out before ducking under the heavy swing of his crossbow and deflecting more jabs of the bolt.

Her eyes went up to Ruby and Weiss, who were trying to hold their position on the bridge by peppering the approaching Uruks with sniper rounds and dust blasts, but Gundza had already called most of the shield bearing Uruks to the front who tanked the damage as the horde pressed on through their barrage. Even more jumped down to join the others in chasing after Blake while Tumhorn was slowing her down. She noted that the ugly one who had been shouting orders to her current quarry seemed content with taking his time crossing the rooftops, unlike his underling.

After several trades she caught Tumhorn's crossbow in-between Gambol Shroud and the cleaver-sheath that went with it. Hardening her stance, she threw the archer back, but he was quick to load the bolt before cleanly landing into a kneeling stance and firing said bolt.

She darted to the side as the bolt shattered a dirty mirror in the distance, but spotted the Archer already pulling out another as he raced towards her again. She glanced between him, the Uruks approaching them, and her teammates before deciding.

"I'll meet you in the tower, just go!" she shouted before turning and leaping into the streets below.

"Damn it, Blake!" Weiss shouted before turning to Ruby "She's trying to lead them away."

"Think we can reach her?" Ruby asked while continuing to rain down gunfire upon the approaching shields.

"Given our track-record, no." Weiss grumbled under her breath as she watched the Uruks on the rooftops below leap down to the streets in pursuit.

"Then we just need to trust her!" the Reaper said before shaking her head and finally hefting her weapon "Come on!"

Weiss nodded before turning to the approaching horde and spinning the chamber of Myrtenaster.

The lull in gunfire prompted Gundza to peak past the shield-bearers, only to find Weiss summoning a glowing red glyph upon the wooden platform before turning to follow Ruby. Recognizing what she was planning, the Shadow vaulted over the Uruk in front of him before racing towards the huntresses-in-training.

The glyph's glow died down a bit after it finished forming, but then it began twisting violently as it glowed brightly... and then it exploded.

The blast was enough to make Ruby jerk her head back to the resulting cloud. Though it withstood the spear blast from earlier, the ramp was blown apart from this one, and the Uruks upon it scooted back as many wooden planks were sent spiraling to the shanties below.

"What-?" Ruby turned to her partner.

"Just giving us a bit of a head start." the Heiress commented before nodding to the Tower which now loomed above them "Come on!"

Perhaps if the Scythe-Wielder had turned back for just a moment instead of refocusing her gaze forward, she would've caught sight of the thin arm which pulled itself up onto the ramp.

Having just cleared the glyph before it had exploded, Gundza was in the clear to continue his pursuit. He didn't even glance back to the others who would now need to use one of the other paths to the Tower, he instead sighted the Huntresses ahead and resumed his chase.

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

Below, a humored Uthug pushed his way out of the drinking hole as he downed some more grog. Behind him, an angered Faunus followed.

"Stop laughing!" she shouted at him "Nothing about this is funny!"

"I disagree!" Uthug gestured towards her with his mug "You try listening to some madwoman drone on and on about absurd conspiracies and not find it hilarious."

"They aren't absurd, my brother-"

"Who's probably even more delusional than you are."

"-just wanted to ready me!"

"By fillin' ya impressionable, young mind with some of the stupidest ideas I've heard since coming here. And I know stupid ideas, trust me. The fact that the shrakh your brother's taught you is far worst than Tuka's idiotic plans should say something, Tark!"

"My name is not Tark!"

"Do you hear that? That's the sound of nobody caring."

The grunt pouted at that, before planting her knuckles on her hips and standing tall "My brother told me to take pride in my family name."

"And so far his advice has just been _so_ useful." Uthug rolled his eyes

"I'm Bebe Gent-!"

Uthug's finger slammed against her lips as the Uruk finished off his mug. Once he was done, he glared at the Deer Faunus "Don't care... Shut... Up..."

But she slapped his hand away "I will not!"

"What is with this sudden bout of confidence?! Weren't you whining about your feet hurting this morning?"

"That was before realizing that the only monster in this hellhole I have to socialize with is a looter coward-"

"Now don't _you_ start going on about that."

"-who also happens to be a fucking six year old!"

"This six year old's about to plant his foot straight through your damn chest you brainwashed animal!"

As the Faunus and Uruk were sucked into another argument, neither of them were able to spot the figure sliding onto the street from an adjacent alleyway half a dozen yards away from them.

Blake had momentarily eluded her pursuers, and after a brief glance behind her she turned the corner only to feel her eyes grow wide at the sight before her.

Two figures in grimy White Fang uniforms arguing with each other. It was a sight so unexpected that she slowed down just enough for one of them to notice her incoming.

"-won't have to deal with your-what in the hell!?" his sentence morphed as his hand shot towards the musket on his back.

Blake slid underneath the musket as it fired before ramming her elbow into the male's head and grabbing hold of his wielding arm as he reeled. The other Fang Member seemed to be recovering from the shock of seeing her.

"What the-!?-Your-!" she stammered before apparently finding her nerve and approaching "Wait! Just let go of-!"

Whatever the Fang Grunt was trying to say was cut off as the Barrel of a musket entered Blake's vision and she realized the guy in her grasp had twisted it around while she was distracted. She yanked her head out of the way as it fired before spinning and launching him into his partner. The two collided with the wall of the building and, as they landed in a heap, Blake saw under the guy's hood and realized that he wasn't a faunus.

Her path unobstructed, Blake blinked at the odd sight of the Uruk and Deer-Faunus in Fang outfits and started to turn...

... but it was then that a vial shattered against the side of her head.

The defeated duo in front of her watched her aura flash to absorb the measly damage the broken little bottle inflicted, but it was unable to stop the content within from spraying across Blake's face as she turned and almost immediately began to sag as she raised her gun.

Uthug spotted Tumhorn just as the Archer slapped the weapon out of their attacker's hand and shoved her to the ground with his shoulder before pinning her under his crossbow while whatever he just dosed her with ran its course.

The Looter refrained from mdoing anything until the attacker stopped moving, and only then began rising off of the unfortunate Faunus he'd been thrown against.

Heavy panting preceded Tarz finally wobbling into view, the Surgeon pausing beside the still cautious Archer to catch his breath "Ya got her Tum-Tum... ya got her!"

"Yes," without taking his eyes off the unconscious girl he nodded towards Uthug and the White Fang Grunt "seems the lackeys over here had her distracted for a bit."

Uthug could only grunt in response as he glanced towards the Deer-Faunus, only to realize that she wasn't holding onto her stomach as he'd expected. When that random cur threw him, he'd slammed into the Grunt's torso. But it seems when they collided with the building that the unfortunate captive had slammed the back of her head against the wall. Right now she was rubbing at the point of impact with a dazed expression on her face, but moved to hold a finger up in a silent plea for a moment to recuperate.

"Finally pulling their weight, eh?" Tarz said as he stood a bit straighter "Just grand."

Uthug wanted to comment on how much back breaking labor he and the Hybrid had been doing, but he wasn't dense enough to think that would get him anything other than more pain.

"Now then, Tum-Tum!" Tarz said as he reached into his apron and slid out a folded up sack which he immediately tossed to Tumhorn "Let's get this tasty morsel ready for carving!"

The Slaughterer caught it, but not without a look of confusion "We aren't turning her in?"

"I told you we wasn't gonna let these fools waste fresh meat."

"And you were serious about that?!"

"Less sass, more sack! Those other globs'll be sniffing around here at any time!"

Uthug saw the Crossbow-Wielder grimace in dissatisfaction before sighing and doing as he was told. In several seconds he had unceremoniously stuffed the unconscious hybrid in the Surgeon's sack before slipping his crossbow back into its strap on his back and hefting her over his shoulder.

"Marvelous!" Tarz exclaimed before snapping his fingers and pointing to the discarded Gambol Shroud lying on the ground behind Tumhorn. As the Archer picked up the weapon, the Surgeon turned his stomach-churning grin towards Uthug and the Fang Grunt "Hope you lot are ready to clean up the mess we're about to make."

Uthug rose as he massaged the side of his head and watched the duo make off with Tarz's chuckles reverberating off the surrounding buildings. He growled to himself before turning to look down at the still dazed Faunus.

"T-that was... Adam's girl." she managed to get out in between winces and rubbed her head "Ow..."

"I saw you get slammed through a table, Hybrid." Uthug grumbled as he reached down to hoist her to her feet "I don't want to hear shrakh about you being in pain."

She merely nodded as she leaned against him for momentary support, garnering a roll of the eyes from the warrior.

Uthug didn't have the drive to scold her for the unnecessary contact, his anger directed more towards the sudden ambush they'd suffered.

"That girl..." he muttered, causing the Faunus at his side to glance up at him despite her aching head "Does anything not want us brained at this point?"

* * *

Yang immediately turned away from the light which poured in as the door to her prison opened. After her eyes adjusted, she finally spotted the source of the consistent worries she'd been having since they'd locked her up. With nothing to distract her since she'd been locked up, Yang had been able to catalog a number of things she absolutely despised about the damned Hell-Hawk.

It wasn't just the random times it would nip at her restrained limbs for seemingly no other reason than to annoy her. It wasn't the times when it seemed to specifically start screeching just to rudely wake her in the dead of night. It wasn't even the fact that its sole purpose seemed to be to watch her for the freaks who ran the place.

It was the fact that such an annoying creature could perch right within grabbing distance for so long and she couldn't do a damn thing about it.

So when she got another good look at the creature relaxing atop the board she was strapped to, she immediately gave it a glare. This wasn't one of her usual glares, usually she had more use of her whole body and could therefore rely on physical expression to get her murderous intent across. But while stuck to this thing, she found that her usual methods of intimidation were void.

The Hell-Hawk quirked its head under her gaze before glancing towards the door and taking flight from her to sail towards one of the two Uruks who entered.

Dharg steeled his stance before the creature impacted with his stomach and seemed to melt back into his aura. After flexing a bit he stood straight and glanced to the heavily armored Uruk at his side.

"Hey guys, must be something big happening if I get both of you showing up at once. We finally doing this execution thing or what?"

Dharg gave her an annoyed glare before biting down on his words and walking over.

And then he began speaking in a language she couldn't identify, which made Yang blink as she began lowering to the floor.

He and his partner began conversing in this language, the annunciation going over the blonde's head completely.

So they did have a language all their own... honestly she was surprised that it took this long for her to hear a lick of it. When she and her team first encountered the cretins the fact that they could initially understand them had bugged her to no end. The movies she'd watched would often skip over the very plausible idea that two vastly different species would have no way to communicate initially. And the more fantastical films would almost always have their generic Orcs speaking in some grunt-speech or something similar. Hell, this stuff she was hearing now sounded pretty damn similar to some of that very grunt-speech. Why was it that she hardly ever heard it spoken, then? These two seemed pretty damn fluent in it.

These were the thoughts that helped distract her from their very real sense of dread that grew as they moved her from her cell.

* * *

"-nice tender meal is being prepared as we speak, lads! I asked my boy, Tumhorn to make sure she was good and awake for when we's start the cutting."

That voice was the first thing Blake could hear when she began regaining consciousness. In front of her was a form kneeling as their hands worked away at her bindings. There was a rope wrapped around her which trailed off somewhere above. The figure's fingers dug into the bindings as they worked at what looked like smaller ropes attached to it?

Blake blinked as she tried to get a clearer picture as to what exactly was happening to her.

"-also got a hold of her weapon! Ha! Looks pretty neat, bet you boys see the irony of having her cut up with her own blade, eh?"

There was laughter which followed after that, the laughter of a small number of Uruks she realized.

Yes, she'd been distracted by those two in White Fang attire and... and the archer had gotten the drop on her.

Tumhorn was his name if she had heard correctly, he'd splashed her with something.

The Uruk gave a hum as he patted the ropes he'd been working on, tilting his head before shifting around her to work on something else.

As Blake tried clearing her vision some more, she found her curiosity peaking. It shouldn't take this long to tie someone up, from the feel of it he was already done. Why was he stalling?

"-and every last one of you gets a nice juicy piece as long as I get the head! Hybrid eyes just taste so unique, ya know?"

That must've been Tumhorn's boss speaking, the hideous Uruk who'd been following him around while he was chasing her.

"Speaking of which, you done back there, Tum-Tum?!"

Tum Tum?

Blake could feel Tumhorn's grip on the ropes tighten as he visibly ground his teeth together at the nickname.

"Almost done." he called back plainly, though from his expression Blake could easily tell he was holding back a mountain of agitations.

"Good, don't want you getting lazy on me! Ha!"

Blake gave a small wiggle in her binds to test them, and immediately noted that there were things hanging off of them. Something was attached to the ropes, she could feel and hear them clack together as she moved. Before she could glance to evaluate them, the Archer grabbed hold of her chin and looked at her for a moment.

The Uruk gave a grumble of indignation as his lips stretched into a small smile "Hope he likes you." he said before calling out "She's ready, hoist her up!"

The rope tightened even more as she was lifted from the ground, Tumhorn stood and watched her for a second before jogging off.

"Here she comes lads!" she could here the boss call out "Get ya knives ready, she's gonna be a kicker I can tell!"

The Faunus immediately began struggling again as her eyes darted around to take in the area. Though still blurry, she managed to work out that she was in some type of warehouse if the crates and barrels said anything. Apparently Tumhorn had been readying her behind a large stack of boxes while his cohorts waited. As she was raised past the boxes she immediately saw them.

Beside the stack of boxes was a catwalk, upon which stood the hideous Uruk with the plump build. In one hand he held Gambol Shroud in its sheath, in the other an empty sack with dark stains which could only imply the horrid things it had once carried.

On the other side of the catwalk a small group of Uruks on the ground floor who watched her rise before them, several feet behind them were a large set of double doors that probably led outside the building.

There were several windows high up on the warehouse walls, since her opponents were congregated near the double doors she would focus on those for potential escape. But first she needed to get out of these-

"What the shrakh?!"

Blake glanced down to the Uruks, only to find each and every one of them staring at her in... terror?

She narrowed her eyes in confusion, until she smelt it.

Smoke, the faint scent of smoke coming off her.

Blake finally looked down, only to feel a matching sense of horror settle in her stomach when she spotted the dozens of fuses and red dust vials strapped to her bindings.

"What is this, Tarz!?" one of them shouted towards the one on the catwalk, who looked utterly gobsmacked.

"I-I don't-"

"Oi boss!"

All eyes turned to one of the windows, where Tumhorn was sitting "By all means, enjoy the meal."

He then slid back out of the frame and fell out of sight.

"Tum-Tum!" Tarz shouted after him "What the blazes is this!?"

"She's gonna blow!" another shouted before wheeling back and turning for the door "Run for it!"

"What?" the foul-faced ringleader shouted "We got too much loot in here, boys! Can't let it get blasted, help me get her down!"

Several of the Uruks rushed to follow his command, while others immediately dashed towards the door. Only to find it motionless.

"What the- its stuck!?"

"Just bash it down!"

Blake had been frantically struggling with her binds, the sight of those fuses slowly burn away causing the adrenaline to pump in her veins.

One of the Uruks threw a blade which caught the side of the rope holding her up, cutting it just enough for it to snap from her weight.

Blake fell onto the stack of boxes before bouncing off towards the catwalk below. Tarz rushed over as she collided with the metal beneath her, immediately dropping gambol shroud and kneeling down at her side. He rolled her onto her back and began tearing at the confusing jumble of fuses.

Two of his subordinates came over, sweat glistening on their faces as they watched their leader work.

"Why ain't we tossin' her out of the building!?" One shouted "With all the grog we got here-"

"Quiet!" Tarz bit before resuming his work "If this thing goes off even close to this place, the Garrison or Dreamer's boys will be all over us! They'll find out about our businesses!"

"But if it goes off in here-!"

"Shut up and help me then, worm!"

As they worked to sort through the mishmash that was Tumhorn's trap, Blake turned her gaze to Gambol Shroud lying beside them.

Her hands were still bound to her side, but if she could just-

"Damn thing's rigged like a maze!" Tarz hissed before leaning back and reaching for the hilt of a small cleaver tucked in his apron.

Blake immediately launched her upper body forward and rammed her head against Tarz's pig-like nose. The Surgeon yelped before stumbling back into the arms of one of his underlings before glaring at her.

"Keep her down, we need that damn thing defused!"

Blake rolled to the side as the Underlings carefully began approaching her, grabbing Gambol Shroud as she did.

She struggled to her feet and immediately began backing up along the catwalk as the Uruks approached, clearly rethinking the idea of approaching what was basically a walking bomb.

With careful handwork, she managed to let the sheath of her weapon fall behind her before working its blade into the restraints.

She dodged back out of the way of one grabbing hand, taking careful note of her footing. If she fell or tripped...

"Out of the way you cowards!" Tarz spat as he shoved his way past them and lunged forward cleaver in hand.

Blake leaned out of the way of several swipes, trying to focus on carving through the bindings and avoiding the surgeon's blade.

"Captain," one of the Uruks shouted "the fuses!"

"They're going off anyway if we don't grab her!" Tarz countered before spreading his arms wide and throwing himself at the Faunus.

The bindings loosened just as Tarz's shadow fell upon her. Grabbing hold of the ropes, Blake reared back before launching it towards him.

Tarz acted on instinct once he saw the incoming bundle, ducking under it and looking back as it fell upon one of his Uruks.

All eyes went wide as Blake went for her sheath, Tarz immediately reached out towards his underling "Wait don't-!"

But the Uruk was too startled by having the explosives thrown at him to hear or care for his boss's words, and immediately launched the bundle of rope and explosives away from him towards-

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

"They're going for the girl."

Skak walked a bit faster to catch up to his fuming partner "Yeah, she's part of their team or somethin' right?" the Axe-wielder chuckled to himself "Me and Blood-Axe was wonderin' why Horkie boy ain't killed her yet."

Ishga grumbled as the two continued making their way towards the tower, having only recently heard news that their quarries had been encountered.

"How those mongrels managed to let them get into the tower, I'll never know."

"Yeah, they even had Gundza with them! I remember seein' him and Bubs in the training yard, can't imagine anything escaping him."

The mention of the Exile's name made Ishga's expression sour. Word had also spread that somehow the Shadow had appeared during the pursuit. How nobody had noticed could only be attributed to the chaos that had been unfolding ever since those girls had showed up. Everyone was being driven into a frenzy trying to catch them first to gain favor. The Slave Drivers, miners and slaughterers were abandoning posts left and right on this wild mouse hunt.

Usually the Garrison would step in to start getting these maggots organized, but Hork and his boys were oddly silent.

Ishga also knew for a fact that his own master was still busy trying to use his power to learn how best to use the Shaman's gift, the Blood-Storm had no idea if he was being woken for the situation or not.

And so, that left him and Skak to try and keep some semblance of order for this hunt. Following behind were a number of their red-themed underlings, a number having split into hunting groups to pursue the one hybrid girl who was said to have been separated from the others.

Ishga wished he could send Skak after her, but he'd need the brawler's strength in order to take down the duo once they found them. Once they were out of commsiosn, they could focus attention on the-

Several yards away from the massive doorway which led inside to the Tower's ground floor, the Hunter paused after hearing a faint explosion in the distance.

Skak and the other Blood-Themed Uruks heard it too, as well as several Uruks who had also been mkaking for the tower. Together they all turned to look back over the rooftops of the Shanties to see a large Warehouse on the other side of the chasm had caught flame.

"Wa's happenin?" one of the lesser Orcs asked "That the Beast-lass?"

"Some idiot foolin around with his blastin' powder no doubt!" Another shouted

Skak blinked before raising his weapon to his ear and listening for a second "Blood-Axe says that there place houses lots of the minerals and whatnot. Think any of that stuff we got was flammable, Ish?"

He turned around when he got no answer "Ish?"

But his partner seemed to be having another one of those infuriated fits of his, and the Brawler put a questioning finger to his own mouth as he watched Ishga put his head in his hands.

"Can't these worms go twenty seconds without blowing themselves up?" the Hunter grumbled to himself.

"Ishga?"

The Blood-Storm suddenly looked up before turning to his partner and hissing "Skak, take some of your boys and make sure that damn fire doesn't spread. I'll try and rally some globs to help me with the tarks and-"

"I dunno, ain't we got slaves for dealing with flames?"

"Yes, but we can't exactly wait for their drivers to get their heads outta their arses and do their jobs. So you and Blood-Axe do this, I'll save you a piece of the tarks when I catch 'em."

Skak grinned before leaning his axe on his shoulder "Blood-Axe usually likes 'em fresh mate, but I think we can make an exception for now." he said before chuckling and turning "Come on lads, guess we's fire tamers today!"

Ishga did not miss the groans of uninterest which came from several of Skak's followers, clearly wishing to experience combat. Despite this, they obediently followed closely behind the brawler as he sped off towards the burning building in the distance.

The Hunter sighed as he turned back to the tower. At this point he could only pray to the Dark Lord that no other globs decided to screw something up today.

* * *

 **Outside Dreamer's Quarters...**

Two Shield-Bearers stood on either side of the door to the Dreamer's resting chambers, both with their shields casually placed at their feet as they stood guard. They faced forward silently, practically untouched by the hunting frenzy now engulfing the Uruks of the tower.

The hall they stood guard in had been empty since a group of slave drivers had charged past them going on about tarks getting into the Tower.

The one on the left of the door took a deep breath, "Think those globs down there gonna find 'em?"

A moment of silence as the door guard on the right gave a grunt "Who cares?"

Leftie kicked at the floor a bit "I mean, they seemed mighty enthusiastic about taking a crack at them."

"Yup."

Leftie glanced over to his guarding partner for a moment before groaning "Lord's sakes, at least try to make this less boring than it is."

"Why?"

Stepping away and turning to his partner, Leftie leaned his spear against the wall and folded his arms "Because all those lads get to run around chasing tarks while we guard the sleeping sod day in and out!"

"And?"

"It's gettin' boring! I wish we'd gotten to fight that old Blood-Storm bastard, if I knew it'd be our last chance at a fight I would've charged him before the nappin' lord himself could interrupt us."

"Small as he is," the Right door-guard muttered "he would've destroyed us."

"Getting battered by an old dog seems grand compared to this!"

"Hmph."

"Hell, maybe he woulda dragged that dimwit Blood-Axe fella into it. I hear he's freaky tough when he needs to be!"

"Hmph."

"Took down Ishga's old man in three strikes after being bloodied! Just think about what fighting that kinda lunatic would be like?!"

"Probably kill us both..."

"But it'd be a great death, you betcha!"

"Could... could you go back to being quiet?" Rightie grumbled "I like it when I don't have to hear idiots complain."

His partner turned on him "Well can you at least... try to..."

His words faded as pounding footsteps warned him of someone approaching, Leftie rushed back to his post and donned his shield and halberd as an unexpected Hunter stumbled into sight.

"Wait... ain't you-?"

"Out of my way!" Gundza the Shadow bit as he marched for the door, halted by crossed halberds.

"The Exile," Rightie grunted "heard he was hangin' around."

"I do not have time for your games, I need to see the Dreamer immediately before-"

"Wait..." Leftie grew a smirk "how badly do you want to get to the boss?"

"I need his assistance immediately!"

"Well," Leftie chuckled before hefting his shield "he don't really like getting interrupted when dreaming. You'd have to get past us to see him."

Rightie glared at his partner for a moment before sighing.

Gundza backed up as Leftie pointed the tip of his halberd towards him "Exile or not, you know who I am." he stated as he faced down the shield-bearer with disdain "What is this!?"

"Just doing our job." the Doorguard beamed as he stepped forward and glanced to his partner "Come on, now we can finally-"

The door behind the duo creaked open before Leftie could finish, the Shield-Bearer's enthusiastic expression melting as Tugog the Dreamer took several steps out of his bedchamber.

Gundza initially smiled, expression shifting only when the Warchief planted the butt of an oddly shaped staff on the floor beside him.

Staff held in one hand, Tugog stared ahead for a moment before finally glancing down at the Exile.

The Shadow waited for a moment, having expected the Dreamer to question why he now stood before him. However, the clairvoyant Uruk was oddly silent, simply standing there as his chamber guards looked on. Gundza's gaze turned to a bit of an annoyed glare, but that dissipated once he focused on the eyes within Dreamer's helm.

He could feel a sudden sense of sadness emanating off the Warchief for some reason... a shocking amount of hopelessness seemed to bleed from the Dreamer's gaze as he stared down upon the Exile.

But before Gundza could demand an explanation, the Dreamer's mouth stretched into a smile "Yes, Gundza... Hork's fallen Shadow. You've returned for his favor I suppose."

The Assassin quirked an eyebrow "My reasons mean nothing to you, Warchief. What should matter are the Tarks sneaking about your Tower trying to save their petulant pissant of a teammate. They're wily, but I know how to track and trap them better than the poor lot running amok here."

"I know."

"Which is why I beseech you for- what?" He had anticipated needing more coercion.

"Those currently searching will not find the girls on their own, at least not without your intervention." Dreamer said with a shrug before giving a sigh "I have seen a... number of things in my recent slumber."

"Then you know how quickly you should act, allow me to prove myself to my master by aiding in the capture of-"

"No need for convincing, Exile." Tugog said as he raised his other hand

Gundza glanced down and found his confusion returning as he saw the Warchief raise a large bell.

"I've seen where this path goes," Dreamer stated wistfully as he latched the bell into the odd shape atop his staff "but found no other option than to take it."

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

"I know she's supposed to be a big deal and all, but seriously... _Belladonna_?"

The White Fang Grunt growled as she and Uthug stumbled through the large hall "The Belladonnas have been a boon to our people for decades. If only they weren't so weak-willed, they could've-"

"How can you expect anything with a name like Belladonna to be anything other than weak-willed?"

To distract himself from his rage, Uthug had questioned the Slave about the girl who had attacked them as they made their way back to the Storage Room Tuka had been using. Despite having shaken off the minor injuries, they remained walking side by side. Occasionally the White Fang Grunt would rrub at her head, but otherwise seemed committed to refuting his many misgivings about the righteous movement she was a part of.

...with absolutely zero success.

"If you saw Supreme Leader Belladonna in action, you wouldn't be saying that." she stated

"If he ain't leading you no more that means he's too weak for the position, so I'm gonna say his old glory ain't gonna mean much to me." the Looter stated before raising a finger and explaining "Focusing on how grand and rewarding the old ways were makes ya too blind and daft to see how ya need's to change for the now. Know what happens to Uruks who's all wrapped up in victories past? They get themselves killed by bloody nostalgia!"

The Faunus groaned for what must've been the seventieth time before deciding that dropping the subject would be the only surefire way of saving herself from a migraine "Ugh, what are we even doing here anyway? I thought we were supposed to be looking for a way out?"

The Uruk rolled his eyes "That was before Tarks started kickin' the hive, with everyone going mad over these girls Tuka's even more likely to get found out. So I'm gonna do what I should've done the moment he nabbed that damn journal. I'm tearing it out of his grasp and chucking it out the nearest window I can find."

"And Tuka's just going to let you do that?" she asked as they came to a stop before the storeroom door.

"Oh definitely not, but as time's progressed its actually fully sunken in how much worst getting caught by the Shaman would be compared to getting beaten by that bastard."

"You know he probably wouldn't stop at just beating you... right?"

Uthug took a deep breath "There are many things worst than death, Hybrid... The Shaman knows far too many of them for my liking."

"Wait... Uthug, I don't think I can last here if you aren't here to help!"

"Oh you'd definitely be worked to death in hours." he stated without hesitation "Like, without question."

"Maybe we can get it without you throwing yourself in harm's way!"

"Slave, you know how I feel about plans." Uthug growled "And I never said dying was a certainty."

"Dude, he can teleport."

The Musket Wielder shrugged "You know... I feel as though I'm being Underesti-"

The Storeroom door was flung open and slammed into Uthug's side in the process, sending both the Warrior and his musket tumbling away in different directions.

The White Fang Grunt managed to back out of its way as Uthug tried to get his footing "Shrakh! What just-?"

At that moment a Tuka shaped figure launched out of the doorway and careened into Uthug before slamming into the adjacent wall with him.

Uthug reached for the pair of hands which were now tightly holding onto his shoulders as he glared up at the Berserker "So you heard-"

Uthug's growl died in his throat when he locked eyes with Tuka.

They seemed painfully bloodshot, with the lids stretched so wide he could swear he could see the muscles straining under his flesh. The Plan-Maker's pupils were dilated to an extreme degree, taking up much more of his eyes than they had any right to. A gurgling sound brought Uthug's gaze down to Tuka's uncharacteristically joyous smile, where he could see foam forming at the edges.

Tuka's Garrison markings were muddled and smeared in seemingly haphazard manners. Uthug could spot some Black Speech written in places but it all seemed like gibberish, random words here and there.

"What... what-"

"I'VE FIGURED IT OUT!" Tuka practically screeched down at him, sending a cascade of saliva and foam raining down upon the shorter Uruk "IT'S ALL CLEAR!"

"The Shrakh are you screamin' about!?" Uthug demanded, though his rage withered somewhat under the maddened grin Tuka gave as he pressed his spittle-smeared face against the unfortunate Warrior.

"MY PROMOTION! IT'S COMING!"

More spittle splattered upon Uthug as he struggled in the Berserker's iron grasp "Get off me, damn you!"

"PROMOTION! YOU'LL HELP!" Tuka continued screeching just as some of the excessive saliva got caught in his throat and he jerkjed his head towards the Faunus girl at their side "YoU'lL bOtH hElP"

She instinctively backed up as Tuka began violently hacking the saliva up onto the trapped Uthug-

... she bumped into something behind her.

Immediately turning around, she found herself staring into the hooded robe of the Shaman of all people.

Uthug was about to yell at her to hit Tuka over the head with something, but the Shaman's sudden appearance momentarily shocked silent. He could only watch as the unfortunate White Fang grunt got a good look under that hood for only a second.

It was a second far too long.

She immediately fell back as a scream tore out of her throat, eyes wide as she stared up at the robed Uruk in horror. Her fingers dug into the floor behind her as she frantically tried scrabbling away from him, only to freeze as the Robed Uruk's gaze turned to her. He tilted his head at her, watching as she shivered under his gaze.

The Storm Ruler gave a hum of thought as he looked from her to the Berserker pinning another Uruk down. Tuka continued babbling about promotions as Uthug found himself torn between focusing on trying to pry Tuka off of him, or keeping the Shaman in sight.

"Yes... this seems... familiar..." the Grand Shaman said before sniffing the air "Oh!"

With casual steps, he strolled to the storeroom and entered.

With him out of sight, Uthug immediately looked to the White Fang Captive "Before he finds it, get this mad bastard off of me!"

But she still seemed frozen, unable to do anything but tremble at the sight she now had seared into her vision.

"Slave!" Uthug shouted to the petrified Faunus "Damn it Hybrid! Hybrid!"

The Warrior grumbled as his eyes shot to the manic Berserker atop him, his mouth moving too fast to even properly form words anymore.

"Shrakh." he growled before turning back to the Grunt "Bebe! Bebe for god's sakes!"

Momentarily snapped out of her stupor by the frantic calling of her name, Bebe blinked. The horrifying sight momentarily forgotten, she looked back to see Uthug glaring at her "D-did you-?"

"Get him off!"

Swallowing, the Deer-Faunus finally began standing, her eyes immediately going to Uthug's dropped Musket.

But just as she began reaching for it, she saw a robed leg appear at the storeroom's door frame.

With the horrid image exploding into the forefront of her memory once again, Bebe immediately turned and dragged herself to her feet as panicked breaths forced their way out of her.

Soon Uthug could only watch as she fled down the hall, eyes twitching with unyielding rage as his one ticket to escape literally abandoned him.

"That treacherous little cu-"

Tuka cracked his skull against Uthug's before the Warrior could finish, rendering him unconscious.

The Plan-Maker's ramblings were interrupted by the random hacks he gave as he continually choked on the saliva which now dribbled from his lips.

Meanwhile, the Grand Shaman flipped through pages of his journal as he took several steps away from the storeroom, checking to see if anything was out of place.

He was momentarily distracted, and turned around to see Tuka drag the unconscious Uruk into the storeroom.

"I think... I wrote it well..." the Storm Ruler commented before turning and walking away as the door was yanked closed behind him

"I hope you... enjoyed reading it..."

* * *

 **AN: Welp, here we are on the next chapter, I actually find this one to be one of the easier to right. I suppose its because all the characters involved were in generally the same setting for the majority of it, hopefully that ease will persist in the next chapter.**

 **As expected, I figured I'd cut the Tower chapter in half and get the first section out before finishing the second. Unlike the last chapter I'm fairly certain Tower won't be around 40K words. That should mean it'll be even easier to complete at this point, but by now you all should know how little stock I put into my predictions so let's just move on.**

 **I recently acquired SoW, which may or may not influence certain future chapters I had planned out. Just know that I won't be running out of material any time soon. Some of that influence even worked its way into this very chapter, which is why I considered talking about two Uruks instead of one for the Author's Note.**

 **But considering how bad of a situation one of them is in, I figured he deserved his time in the limelight.**

 **So let's talk about Tuka.**

 **Tuka the Plan Maker, bane to Uthug's sanity, was actually known as Tuka Black-Blade back in Shadow of Mordor where I first encountered him. He was never too big of a persona like Hork or Gundza, but I just found him intriguing enough to land him as a side Character in this story. Why? Well its because of how unbelievably persistent he was.**

 **He didn't have Hork's leadership or Gundza's skill, but he managed to make himself stand out from the hordes of Uruks I'd slaughter . When I fought him he'd always sporadically run off then come back, many times I'd forget he'd even been a part of the battle but then he'd suddenly show up trying to take swings again. This is initially why I gave him a teleportation semblance. I'd beat him, he'd speed off then show up from an entirely different direction.**

 **There were other key identifiers which stuck with him in the story, like his consistent failures at trying to gain the favor of his superiors, his inability to admit wrongdoing and his consistent squabbles with Uthug, who we will get to later.**

 **Unfortunately I couldn't take him to Shadow of War as he was killed by an ally in an unfortunate event... well, unfortunate for him, I found it hilarious.**

 **Tuka Black Blade A.K.A the Plan-Maker. A force of misfortune indeed.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoy, any and all criticisms positive or negative are welcomed in full so leave a review if you are so inclined to do. Like it? Hate it? Any ways you feel I could improve? Expectations for the next chapter? Follow or Favorite at your leisure and I will see you all in the next installment of The Dreamer Gate.**

 **Next Chapter: The Tower... definitely this time.**


	12. Chapter 12: The Tower

**Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of The Rings, the Middle-Earth universe, Shadow of Mordor/War or RWBY.**

 **This work will contain moments of intense violence, dark and dirty humor, and canonical divergences.**

* * *

 **The Tower**

This wasn't the banquet he'd wanted, nor was it the feast he had anticipated.

Tarz the Surgeon groaned as he rolled onto his back, staring up at the sky above, where he could spy a smoke trail leading above. His eyes followed the trail down to the burning warehouse, which spewed forth smoke and the cries of Uruks still trapped within. His gaze went to the window he'd recently thrown himself from.

Once the vest was far enough out of his reach, he knew there would be no time to retrieve and defuse it. The nearest window had become his only viable option.

Lying there on the ground below the window, the Surgeon had time to curse his luck.

Tumhorn, the rotten bastard had betrayed them. Left them locked up with an explosive hybrid .

But why? Tarz had been such a gracious leader to him, gave him a role to play... a purpose! Taught him how to cut up and prepare meat. Why, even now a pleasant memory of the Surgeon slapping the Slaughterer on the back of the head over and over ran through his mind as he tried to come up with any reason why his loyal servant would try and ruin all their work.

The sound of approaching footsteps made him roll over so he could look behind him.

The first thing he saw was Skak Blood-Axe waltzing towards him whilst spinning his namesake to and fro, behind him several of his Blood-Brothers who were panting from the strain of keeping up with their boss.

And the next thing he saw was the faunus shaped figure darting away via the rooftops behind them.

Tarz reached out towards the fleeing figure, growling at the sight of his meal leaving him, but paused when a heavy boot planted itself near his head.

Stifling his growl, Tarz looked up and locked eyes with Skak as he knelt down beside the fallen butcher.

"Hey there, Laddie." the Axe-Wielder greeted as he looked back up to the burning building "Looks like you lot had yourself a bit o' trouble."

The Surgeon merely looked at him for a moment before sighing and getting up with a cheeky smile spreading on his face "Seems so, I guess the boys dropped somethin' from the mines, eh?"

Skak held up a finger before leaning his weapon to his near, "Hn? Oh, that's a good point!"

Tarz frowned, while his preconceived excuses were tailored to fool the average meathead like Skak, he knew from experience that the Axe-Wielder's make believe friend was far more perceptive.

"Blood-Axe wonders why a Surgeon is hangin' around a mining warehouse."

"Wha-? Well if you must know, I may have had a number of dealings with one of the boys here. All me blades are made from the goods here, so I sometimes come around to make sure I get me some nice carving instruments. An Uruk needs to keep his weapons deadly, ya know?"

Skak rubbed at his chin in thought for a minute before shrugging and turning to his Blood-Brothers "Oi! What you lot standing around for?"

"Sir-" one began before hunching over and panting again "we just blew through most of the shanties, we ain't got your physique for lord's sakes!"

"Blood-Axe don't like complaining," Skak held up the weapon till its empty sockets were glaring at the underling "Neither do I. Some of you get those doors open while the others get some water already!"

Under the gaze of the Blood-Axe, the Uruks relented and split into two groups. As one went for the nearest source of stored water, the others moved to the burning building's double doors.

"Huh?"One reached for the doors, only to find them stuck "Wus wrong wid it?"

Another Blood-Brother nudged him and pointed towards the door's hinges "Look! Some bloke went and jammed a bunch of bolts in the thing's hinges!"

As his boys began angrily tearing the thick bolts out, Skak quirked his eyebrow "Crossbow bolts?"

"Come to think of it," the Surgeon began "I saw that Tumhorn guy slinkin' away before I got blasted off me feet!"

Almost immediately Skak raised Blood-Axe to his ear again and listened for a moment "Blood-Axe is a bit skeptical matey. Was you inside when this happened? Because if so, how'd you know to go for the window?"

Tarz waved it off, "I smelt the smoke, smoke means heat, and a lot of things in there didn't really go good with heat. I didn't know where it was so I may have panicked a bit."

"Scared of a little explosion, lad?" Skak chuckled before giving a confused frown "But see, you said something about the boys dropping something that started all this."

"I didn't get a good look, I just smelt the smoke and knew something was-"

A thick hand latched onto Tarz's meaty neck and hoisted the foul-faced Uruk off the ground. Suddenly finding breathing harder to do, Tarz could only gasp as Skak brought him to eye level "Listen pal, Blood-Axe has a few problems with what ya saying, and hearing you go on is giving me the same inclination. Don't know what it is, mind ya, but I just don't believe you's tellin' me everything."

"Put me down , you muscle-headed nutcase! You ain't got no kinda proof I did a thing wrong! I take care of lots o' lads! What they gonna think when they hear about you tossin' me a-"

Just then the double doors were flung open, tossing the Blood Brothers working on it to the sides. They'd apparently removed enough of the bolts to the point where something inside could finally force open the doors. Heat spewed forth from inside the Warehouse, which was pretty much an inferno at this point. And stepping from the inferno was a number of screaming Uruks who flailed violently and stumbled to and fro as they burned.

Tarz's eyes went wide, those idiots didn't die from the blast?

The Blood-Brothers backed away and watched as the burning Uruks tripped and fell over one another in their mad panic to put themselves out. One shoved another to the ground as the flames ate away at his flesh, one good eye settling on Tarz as he stumbled forward in search of relief "BOSS! HELP ME!"

"Boss?" Skak looked to the Surgeon

"I've never seen this bloke in my life."

Skak didn't even need Blood-Axe to be skeptical of that one.

Hearing Tarz's dismissal of him, the Burning Uruk wailed as he collapsed in a fiery heap, one unscorched arm trying to drag his charred figure forward "BUT YOU- AH AGH!- PROMISED THE GIRL! Promised... a... banquet..."

Skak and his Blood-Brothers just watched as the screaming Uruks finally went silent under the intense blaze, distracted only when the other half of Skak's Underlings came to a stop at the sight. In each of their hands were pails of sloshing water

"I thought everyone inside was dead!" One of the water-carriers shouted "What in blazes happened!?"

"What happened? I'll tell's ya what happened." Skak shook Tarz for emphasis "This bloke just got ratted out is what happened!"

* * *

 **Garrison HQ...**

Hork didn't move a muscle when he heard them come in, didn't turn to acknowledge his two Underlings or the restrained girl they had with them.

Yang found herself impressed with how unresponsive he could be compared to his eccentric brother. The guy was like a rock while Krimp was... well, something less solid?

Yang cursed, her time in captivity must've eroded her improvisational talents a bit.

"Here?" Pigug asked as he and Dharg steadied her.

Hork finally glanced back at them before nodding and turning forward again.

He didn't seem to be looking at anything in particular, the rather large window in front of him seemed too scratched and coated with sand for anyone to see through it.

Once the two Captains were done situating her, they stepped back and awaited Hork's orders.

Before the Warchief could comment, a chuckling from the edge of the room brought her attention to one she hadn't noticed beforehand.

"Quite the setup you're playing for, Horkie." Ratlug commented as he pushed away from the wall and into view.

Yang bit her lip, the sight of that insulting grin instinctively making her clench her fists in her restraints.

Ratlug came to a stop in front of her, smiling a bit wider after taking note of her angered state, "Of course, you could skip this convoluted ploy and end her now, with her gauntlets locked down she shouldn't be much-"

"I will not have you commenting on my dealings, Exile." Hork stated

Yang watched as Ratlug's seemingly unbreakable grin faded into a frown.

"Well, I suppose you'd be glad to know that me and the boys are almost done here. Soon as the boss finds his little book we'll be out of your hair." Ratlug stuffed his hands into his blood-stained labcoat before walking past Yang to the exit.

"Wait." Hork said

Yang heard Ratlug's footsteps stop as the Warchief turned to look behind him and said, "Unlock her gauntlets."

"Excuse me?" she could hear the tinkerer give a humored chuckle "If she gets out of those bindings-"

"Are you questioning the master?" Dharg asked

Ratlug was silent for a second, before releasing a sigh.

Soon, Yang heard several little clicks from Ember Celica.

"You are an odd one, Gatekeeper." Ratlug chuckled "I know most lads have big opinions on that oddball twin of yours-"

Yang could see Hork's expression harden, but Ratlug continued.

"-but most seem to forget the nutjob who made him what he is."

With that, Ratlug left. Hork glared after him for a while before turning back to the scratch stained window. After several seconds of silence, Pigug spoke up, "If that is all sir, we'll be taking our positions.

Hork merely nodded, and the two took their leave as well.

Yang furrowed her brows in confusion, what was happening? Wasn't this supposed to be an execution? Unless there were more guys hanging out in the shadows, she and Hork were alone.

Just to be sure, Yang tried getting a good look at her surroundings. While she couldn't look behind her, she could at least confirm that there were no more hidden guys in front of her. But as she looked, she found herself realizing that there were no torches or anything lighting up this area, unlike the rest of the tower that she'd seen. Shouldn't it be darker?

Straining, she craned her neck up to see that there was some kind of light shining in from above, she couldn't quite-

"He was a wretch."

Her attention was suddenly drawn back to Hork, who remained motionless.

"A somewhat capable fighter with no spine for combat... all he could think about was bloating himself." Hork shifted a bit to look at his own hand for a moment "We are weapons of war, made to slaughter the enemies of the Dark Lord under our overwhelming strength and numbers. There is no place for distractions."

Why was he choosing now to have a monologue?

"Most of those trapped by their own vices at least know to keep themselves deadly, so as not to become useless in the eyes of the Dark Lord. But he just kept gravitating away from training, away from competence, all he ever wanted was to eat himself to death and he'd do it with a smile!" the Warchief clenched his hand into a fist for a moment and released a growl before letting out a throaty sigh "I was going to beat that habit out of him, was going to carve through the fat and gristle and drag the warrior out of him. He had my blood, he had every opportunity to become a deadly juggernaut of power and stalwart devotion but no. No, he found Bubol... another failure I refuse to forget. All of a sudden he was encouraged for indulging, found chivalry amongst the unwanted and became that walking disease's toy."

Yang swallowed carefully before leaning forward a bit "Hork-"

"I do not find myself infuriated by you and your friends slaying my youngest kin." the Uruk interrupted as he turned back to look at her "I'd always wanted to believe that someday he'd snap out of it and come back to me seeking proper guidance in bettering himself. Held out hope that one day he could stand as my equal in both body and status. But he was too far gone, in truth I knew that Bubol had sunken his talons too deep into his mind. Made giving up and wallowing in his own obsession seem like the only option that mattered."

Hork shrugged at her "In fact, finally being rid of that false hope should actually be quite beneficial to me in the long run."

This was not what she needed to hear. Seeing someone speak so deeply about how much hope he'd had for his young sibling was... it felt... bad. Hearing someone just give up on family they felt would never be the same made her feel sick in a way.

"I suppose, as a _Leader_ I should feel happy that you peons have removed such a gross representation of weakness from the world. Should feel pride in knowing that Ashgarn's foulness will no longer leech off my name. But as a brother... I've found my penchant for dedication and reason... faltering..."

He didn't speak for a moment, and Yang was left with nothing to say as time began to pass. He was clearly far worst than a little 'faltering' as he says. Yang remembered how it was long ago when she realized Summer wasn't coming back, how she couldn't stop thinking about all the memories she'd had with her.

Was this grief-stricken reminiscing the Uruk way of doing it? Yang had expected the stone cold warchief to just come at her with an executioner's axe and be done with it, she'd expected him to be ready and willing to have her cut down by dozens of his soldiers.

What she hadn't expected, was for him to be going through some intense emotional turmoil, to the point where even he recognized it. She'd never anticipated how the seemingly monstrous figures would react to their own family being lost. When fighting in groups they hardly seemed to give a rat's ass about each other, so she'd almost convinced herself they'd see family the same way... especially if Ratlug and Krosh's relationship was anything to go off.

In a way, this was almost worst. She could just hope that a miracle happened before he gathered himself enough to follow through with his vengeance.

* * *

She needed to get back to Weiss and Ruby.

That was the first thought which crossed Blake's mind the millisecond she managed to escape Tumhorn's trap. Sure, she was much stealthier on her own, and was better able to utilize her semblance without having to worry about the others, but if three against an army was a stretch of the imagination, one against an army was impossible. However, she made use of the situation as much as possible, making her way to the tower while the searching Uruks were distracted by her teammates. They'd made it, at least, and that knowledge seemed to have spread to those who had been looking in the Shanties.

Despite allowing her to make for the Tower in a much quicker fashion, it also meant the lower entrance was surrounded by the Uruks, all clamoring to get inside before the others. Every entrance on the lower sect was crowded in a similar matter.

Which is why she had to try another method.

The ramps, like the ones her teammates had used, were also crowded. However, she was able to traverse along the side of several certain scaffolds that had apparently been used to reinforce the structure. The Uruks there were incredibly few, and so were optimal for her. Carefully weaving through the wooden structure, hiding behind stacks of metal and avoiding the gazes of the Uruks, she finally found a way in.

A single windowframe that had long since been eroded away to a somewhat large hole. There was a large slab of flat metal near it, probably to cover it later on. Blake silently thanked her luck before slipping in.

Landing upon the sand swept floor, Blake immediately let her eyes dance around the hall before moving. She had no idea where Ruby and Weiss could be, only knew that they would seek out Yang as quickly as possible. But to find her she'd have to identify where they kept prisoners, that would take too long.

"Come on!" shouted a voice from around a corner up ahead.

Thinking quickly, Blake glanced around for someplace to hide.

Soon, two Uruks with their weapons drawn jogged around the corner to find the hallway apparently empty.

"Where'd they spot 'em last?!" one shouted to the other

"Heard that Exile got Dreamer up and looking around third floor! We'll take the lift, maybe we can find them first!"

Neither of them noticed the figure clinging to the ceiling, still as a statue as she made sure not to even breathe. The Uruks who were searching... they seemed more in tune to where her teammates were spotted than she'd given them credit for. Initially, she thought they were just tearing apart everything in search of them, but they all seemed to go off each other's sightings.

Slowly releasing her hold on the ceiling, Blake dropped to the floor and looked down the hall after them. If she stayed out of sight and listened in on them then surely...

She was so lost in thought that she initially didn't hear the sound of something large and wooden being dragged along the ground behind her.

"LUCKY ME!"

She spun around just in time to stare down the barrel of a gun before it fired and tore through a shadow clone as the Faunus darted back.

Blake landed with her hand on her weapon and a heavy breath, she'd had just enough time to dodge. Before she could draw the weapon from its sheath, she found herself stricken by the appearance of her attacker.

"Ha... heheheh."

Standing before her was a tall Uruk covered in smeared black markings, saliva and foam dripped from the wide smile etched into his face, his eyes were dilated to an extreme measure, his pupils far wider than should be physically possible. In one hand was a musket with an exceptionally jagged bayonet stuck on it, the other was placed on a-

Blake had to blink several times to make sure she wasn't just seeing things.

The mad Uruk's other hand was steadying what looked like a large wheel which was almost as tall as he was. The wheel seemed shoddily built out of a plethora of wooden bits and pieces, with the perimeter covered in sharpened spikes. A handle she could see placed on its center told Blake that it was some kind of shield?

"FOUND MY PROMOTION!" the Uruk yelled "GONNA SOLVE ALL PROBLEMS!"

As Blake listened to his rambles, she slowly backed up. There was something... familiar about his voice.

 _"We've been outmaneuvered! Flee now and live to fight again!"_

Wait...

"LOOKIE LOOKIE."

Tightening his grip on the wheel, the Uruk turned it around, revealing an unconscious figure strapped to the other side. Wasn't that the Uruk in White Fang attire from earlier?

Knocking the butt of his musket against his Captive's head to wake him, the Mad Uruk sneered before gesturing forth.

"WELL WORM, I BET YOU'S DYIN' TO KNOW 'BOUT THIS CURE-ALL PLAN O' MINE?!"

"Mmm?!" the captive tried speaking as his eyes widened, his words stifled by a gag

"SIMPLY PUT, I'MMA KILL THE TARK THAT KILL'S YA!" he paused to hack up more foam, choking on his next words "GeT pEaCe FrOm YoU...aNd PrOmOtIoN..."

The Captive blinked "HMMMM!?"

"PERFECT PLAN!"

Blake didn't have time for this, her teammates needed her.

Turning, she darted away. She could hear the lunatic cry out in surprise, but surely she was too far away to-

And suddenly he was in front of her.

Blake's eyes widened as the Berserker reared back with the wooden wheel and sent it sailing towards her, the captive strapped to it releasing muffled screams in the process. Using her forward momentum, she slid under the wheel and brought Gambol Shroud up just in time to deflect a thrust of the musket.

"PROMOTION!" the lunatic screeched as his free hand went to one of two handles on his back before pulling an axe free and whipping it towards her. She rolled back out of its range and leaned out of the way of another thrust of the Musket, but the Uruk dropped the axe and grabbed hold of the Musket before suddenly wrenching its rear towards her.

She narrowly ducked under it, only for his leg to slam into her and toss her back. Blake managed to land on her knees, only briefly being distracted by the wheel next to her, whose occupant continued trying to yell through his gag.

Her opponent charged forth with his bayonet lined with the Faunus. She threw herself to the side before slicing at him, the Uruk merely cackling as his aura flared from the strikes.

She backed up as he swiped at her with the musket before going in for a follow up, only for him to reach down and yank the wheel in between them.

Gambol Shroud's sliced at the captive before Blake could stop herself, her eyes going wide as she found his Aura not activating.

The Captive released a muffled shriek as his Captor cheered "THAT'S IT HYBRID! SLICE HIM TO RIBBONS!"

At that the Captive began shaking his head side to side while glaring at Blake. The Lunatic charged her wheel-first, and Blake had to dodge out of the way as it slammed against the wall behind her.

Blake found herself faltering as the sounds of the Captive's muffled yells rose. His captor wasted no time in whipping his musket towards her again and firing, but she was already ducking under the barrel and swiping at his torso.

Unfortunately, Blake underestimated just how easily he was able to lift his wheel, as she found the captive between her blade and the target once again. Panicking for just a moment, Blake tried angling the blade away from the shield-bound Uruk and winced at the sound of sliced cloth. She leaped away and steadied herself as the mad Uruk took a moment to cackle.

But her eyes were drawn to the captive once again, and she found that her blade had nicked the gag just enough for him to tear it apart with his teeth. The moment the pieces of cloth fell from his mouth, a loud growl erupted from his throat.

"Tuka!" he snapped "Let me off of this damn thing you sack of shrakh!"

"THAT WOULD RUIN THE PLAN, UTHUG!" Tuka spat before hefting the wheel shield "I NEED YA BOTH DEAD!"

Uthug felt himself being raised and shook violently "What!?" He shouted before his captor charged towards the Faunus "No, you bastard! Don't-AAAAGGGHHHH!"

He screamed as they approached, Blake crouched low and threw herself over the bayonet before swiping at Tuka's head.

Tuka stumbled, but cackled as he spun and launched the wheel-shield behind him.

Blake watched the incoming wheel approach as its unfortunate passenger released a fearful yell. She shifted Gambol Shroud into its pistol form and dodged past it before raising it towards Tuka, who teleported away before her first bullets could reach him. She scanned around before stilling from the sounds of approaching footsteps and glancing back.

Tuka was already mid-leap, the massive wooden wheel clutched in both hands as he brought it down towards her. The Faunus rolled outof the way as the wheel-shield slammed into the ground, staying sturdy despite the bits of splinters it sent flying from the impact. The same could not be said for its passenger, who had been fortunate to not have been strapped to the side which now kissed the solid ground.

"Dizzyin' me..." the dazed warrior grumbled as he tried shaking the stars out of his view "ya rancid... I'mma tear ya apart... you..."

Tuka planted his foot on the wheel's edge and flipped it back into his awaiting hand before diving towards the young woman once more.

But Blake had already devised something of a plan, well... it would make the battle at least somewhat easier for her.

So when Tuka charged again, she waited for him as Gambol Shroud returned to its blade form. She did as she did before, slipping past the musket and swiping at him. He moved his wheel in between them once again and smirked once again as she failed to connect. She slid past him and readied herself once again as he turned to fire at her once again, until something arose in the corner of his vision.

Shifting his wheel-shield a bit, he watched as Uthug flexed the fingers of his now-free arms.

She'd slashed at his bindings.

Uthug's hand clamped onto Tuka's wrist and jerked, throwing the musket-round off wildly as the Warrior struggled to pull the limb towards his mouth.

"I'm gonna chew threw everything you rotten, meat-headed arse!"

Tuka gasped before his deranged smile finally fell into an enraged grimace.

"NO! YOU'S GONNA RUIN THE PLAN!" He screeched before trying to pull his arm free.

He wasn't given much time to focus on this before Blake slipped past him and dragged her blade along his torso. His aura still held, but the Plan-Maker released a maddened howl as he watched her dart in again.

Raising both shield and musket, Tuka slammed the bottom of the wheel-shield towards her, but Uthug made his movements far too slow. He suffered several more slashes to the aura before violently spinning towards her again.

Blake managed three more strikes like this before Uthug finally managed to sink his teeth into Tuka's weakened Aura. Another beast-like scream tore its way from Tuka's throat as he leaped back from Blake and bit down hard on his lower lip to stifle his own vocalizations. Once he was sure he was far enough away, Tuka turned to the nearest wall and immediately rammed Uthug against it.

Blake felt herself physically flinch from the horrid sound, but was shocked to see Uthug hadn't been crushed from the force. The warrior's nose was thoroughly broken, and he was stunned to the point where Tuka could quickly yank his hand free of his captive.

But Blake saw something odd as this happened, a trail of some shimmering substance leading from Tuka's hand to Uthug.

She wasn't given much time to mull over this oddity, as Tuka quickly raised the wheel-shield and rammed Uthug towards the merciless stone wall once more. But even this time, Uthug was not crushed.

He blinked.

Blake almost missed it, but Uthug definitely vanished before he could be flattened between the wheel and the wall. Tuka was stunned at the lack of a splatter, and the deranged Uruk sniffed at the air several times before jerking his head towards Blake with an enraged gaze.

She was confused at first, until she heard something behind her.

"Huh?"

She turned around to see Uthug standing on unsteady feet, looking even more baffled than either of them "How did I get-?"

A spinning musket slammed into him before he could finish.

As he went down, Blake turned back to Tuka, who dropped his now victim-less Wheel-Shield to the ground in front of him before crouching near it "STILL RUIN PLAN! ALWAYS RUIN PLAN! YOU RUINED!" he rambled, his insane smile now replaced with a tortured frown "ALWAYS RUINED!"

He dug his hand into the wheel and pulled out what seemed to be a second strap on the odd shield.

Once it was out, Tuka reached back with both hands and pulled out a pair of dual axes. He then slid the large shield onto his back, and stood shakily with the new distribution of weight as his arms settled into its straps and he lifted it somewhat like a backpack.

"GOTTA FIX SLOPPILY..." he wailed as he brandished his axes "SO SLOPPY!"

Dragging his axes along the ground as he charged head first, Tuka began openly sobbing as he approached "ALWAYS SO SLOPPY!"

Blake was unnerved in ways she hadn't been expecting, but that didn't stop her from ducking under his first swipe and clashing with his second. Despite the beating he'd taken, she could feel him begin shifting their blades and easily overpowering her. Before that could happen, she used her semblance and darted past him as her doppleganger was crushed between the handles of his axes.

To her shock, he immediately flung himself backwards towards her. She quickly dodged back out of the way as the Wheel crashed into the ground. She saw him struggle for a moment to get up, and she lunged towards him to capitalize.

"RUINED IT!"

He swung his axes together and locked her blade in between them before hauling her over him and sending her rolling away. Shocked by his simple counter, she pushed herself to her feet just in time to duck under another flurry of swipes.

"SLOPPY SLOPPY!"

As Tuka continued releasing mournful wails, Blake leaped back away to catch her breath. He didn't seem so keen on letting her do that, as he quickly crouched low to charge her again...

...only for the tip of a bayonet to sprout from his chest.

Blake froze as Tuka released a screech and keeled over a bit from the sudden attack, revealing an enraged Uthug behind him. "Suck on it you wretch!" he bellowed as he drove the bayonet deeper through the spokes of Tuka's wheel into the Berserker's back "Suck on it and die!"

Despite blood now liberally dripping from the mad Uruk's lips, Tuka ground his teeth together and raised an axe.

Uthug yanked the Musket out of the Plan-Maker as he he spun back with the axe. Darting under his swing, Uthug sliced open Tuka's belly with the bayonet.

The Berserker stumbled, one hand dropped its axe so it could try and contain his entrails within the extreme wound.

Tuka stumbled as he leaked black blood from his many wounds, legs trembling as he turned to look at Uthug.

"Wait..." he spoke through blood and foam "...my...plan!"

Hearing that word seemed to stoke the inferno of Uthug's rage, as the warrior immediately released a battle cry before shoving the bayonet up through the bottom of Tuka's mouth. Gripping the musket with both hands, Uthug forced Tuka against a nearby window frame. With their position, the wheel strapped to Tuka's back immediately began dragging him back out of the Tower.

In a last, desperate attempt to keep from plummeting to his death, Tuka hooked his one remaining axe into the edge of the window frame. His other hand moved from the horrid stomach wound and tried to grab hold of the musket.

But then Uthug pulled the trigger, and sent the insides of Tuka's head spraying out into the arid air.

Breathing heavily, the warrior's fury-ridden eyes were locked on the corpse stuck on his weapon for a second. Then, with a grunt, he raised one foot and kicked Tuka's body out of the window frame.

He watched for a second, taking only a smidgen of pleasure watching the corpse smash into the ground below. He couldn't smile at what should be the greatest moment in recent history for him. His rage at what had just transpired was too great, too potent. He could barely keep himself from dragging the body back in so he could tear it apart with his bear hands, "Did you plan for that, ya bastard?!"

Releasing several breaths, he suddenly stood straight and looked back to find that the Faunus had absconded at some point while he was busy with Tuka.

Finding himself alone with nothing but the blood puddle's left by the Plan-Maker, Uthug had an epiphany of sorts.

He'd never have to hear another one of that pretentious bastard's plans again.

And he felt so... so fucking thrilled about it.

No more excuses, no more having to deal with the fallout of his consistent failures, no more having to deal with any of it!

He'd been hesitant to take Tuka on before, mainly because of that whole teleport shtick he had, but now he was dead! Even the madness of the Shaman's journal couldn't keep him alive, if anything it made him sloppier. Oh the irony, the very thing he poured over was what finally led to his demise!

If he'd known how good throwing caution to the wind truly felt, he would've stabbed him while he slept before they even got to this hellhole.

That made him look up, why was he so hesitant to leave in the first place? He'd thought that Hork's boys would kill him for desertion, but would they? From the look's of it, hardly any of these dimwits even had the balls to travel too far from the Tower in the first place. What about Tarz's smugglers? Well, they were too busy gorging themselves to even walk past the boundaries of the Tower let alone Vale.

Yeah, he could just leave and move to Vale, rob the idiots of this world of their possessions and hunker down with his bounty in a cave somewhere safe from all this shrakh.

What reason did he have to stay? Hell, even that traitorous Deer-Faunus proved how willing she was to leave him behind.

His mind was made up, he was going downstairs and walking out those front doors, and damn anyone who thought they could stop him!

* * *

"Damn it all, stop them!"

Ruby and Weiss turned the corner at full speed, both of them pushing their legs as hard as they could. Seconds later, dozens of Uruks erupted from down the hall and stomped and trampled each other in their pursuit.

Ruby gave a cursory glance behind her, looking at the bloodthirsty mob on their tail.

"They're-" she turned to look ahead and release a breath before glancing to her partner "dedicated!"

Weiss wasn't holding up as well, and didn't even give Ruby a glance before asking "Are we still on the right path!?"

"Yeah!" Ruby said as they turned yet another corner, spotting a trio of Uruks ahead.

Hearing the suddenly overwhelming sound of footsteps, the three turned just as the girls reached them.

Ruby darted between two and Weiss flipped over the third, the three taking only a moment to shake off their surprise and join the rest of the horde in pursuit.

Not too long after making their way into the Tower, the partners spotted the Elevator-like platform in the central chamber ascending to a higher floor. They would've chased it down and commandeered it, but had been spotted and swarmed almost immediately.

Even now, the Uruks remained hot on their heels after barely making it up a stairway they'd found. Ruby tried to keep a mental image of where the central chamber was in relation to them, even as they avoided the dozens of search parties which would eventually join the pack of pursuers behind them. Even if the lift wasn't there, both of the Huntresses-in-training had ways to quickly ascend to the next floors. Ruby had her scythe and Weiss with her glyphs, they could at least lose this group momentarily.

"So many halls!" Weiss fumed as she caught up to her partner.

"Can't you... summon something under them?" the little reaper offered

"With about two-three dozen people, of course." Weiss replied before glancing back to the hallway-filling horde "There's a bit more than that here Ruby, I'm almost positive it wouldn't put a dent in them."

Ruby's frown deepened a bit at that as they neared what felt like the twentieth corner, "Okay, this is still oka-There it is!"

Indeed, the moment they turned the corner they spotted it at the end of a longer hallway. The Central chamber, with a pleasantly unmanned lift just sitting there.

Weiss wore a skeptical expression as she took in the oddly vacant scene ahead of them, but the roar of the crowd behind her made her tighten her grip on Myrtenaster and push forward.

Just as they were passing the last adjacent hall on their way to the lift, a figure suddenly darted out behind them and lunged at an odd protrusion on a nearby wall.

Assuming it to be the first of another hunting party, the girls kept their focus ahead, only to spy two shield bearers enter the hall ahead. They stood beside one another and raised their shields with one arm while the other hefted thick halberds high up towards the ceiling.

Ruby began to slow, but Weiss summoned a glyph. Seeing the ploy, Ruby quickly grabbed her partner's wrist, "Weiss, don't! They-"

"I know that," the Heiress bit "but if we slow down then-"

The sound of heavy metal colliding with the ground behind them interrupted the Schnee, and the two girls turned to see that a large metal gate had been yanked down from above, cutting them off from the pursuers. The Figure who'd darted at them before was still holding onto the odd protrusion, which was now easily seen to be a lever of sorts.

The pursuers on the other side of the gate pulled and beat at it with all their might, but the figure merely growled at them in an all too familiar tone "Go ahead and beat at it, ya sods. This is my catch you're hounding."

Yep, its Gundza.

The Shadow snapped his attention back to the girls before stepping away from the lever "Now that I've got you all to myself-"

"We don't have time for this, Gundza!" Weiss shouted "Tell your boys to stand down before they have to get hurt.

At that the shield-bearer on the left cooed to his partner "Isn't this exciting, mate!? We's finally getting in on some real action!"

But Rightie didn't share his enthusiasm "Just try not to get me killed along with you."

"Is that all I am to you now?" Gundza seethed at the heiress's words "Just an annoyance you think you can flick away?! I almost had you in chains back at the arena!"

"Yet you failed," Weiss shrugged "because you and all the rest of these unhygienic idiots of yours are a cavalcade of screw-ups!"

Gundza bit down a roar as another form emerged from the adjacent hall he'd darted from.

"Technically, they're my soldiers anyway." this new Uruk stated before settling against a staff he had in one hand, there was a bell held in the other. The staff was topped with a large metal ring, the ring had sharp dust crystals stuck on its edges and a hook hanging on the inside of it

This new arrival looked at the dropped gate before turning on Gundza "Was that really necessary?"

"We have to be the ones who catch them, Dreamer!" the Assassin hissed "Now focus on-"

"You're the Dreamer?" Ruby piped up, interrupting Gundza again and sending him into another fit of silent raging.

Tugog turned to the two young girls and gave them a once over before nodding "Yes, I am Tugog the Dreamer. You should know me as the one responsible for all this, if what Krimp told you is accurate."

"How do you-?" Weiss began

"I saw a lot 'o things the last time I slumbered," the Warchief said as he raised the bell towards his staff "including this very encounter. You can see how easy it was to trap you."

"You call this a trap?" Weiss huffed before folding her arms "Four guys on either side of us? That's a trap? Gundza, it seems you're plans have taken twelve steps back. At least I could consider the Arena and that stunt outside as traps. I believe what this is called, is pathetic."

"Weiss." Ruby nudged her partner as Gundza shook with rage

"You..." he dragged a spear from his pack and pointed it towards them "You dare?!"

"I dare." the Heiress responded

"She's right."

Gundza's head snapped towards Tugog "She's WHAT?!"

"If we were to attack them as we are now, they would simply slip away again."" The Dreamer raised a finger "They only plan to escape to the aid of their trapped friend. Which is why-"

He turned to the gate, eyeing the enraged horde on the other side "You lads do know you can just find a way around it right?"

Those struggling at the metal paused in their ferocity, until one shouted, "Go around damn it!"

"The shrakh are you doing!?" Gundza grabbed hold of the Dreamer and dragged him down to eye level.

"The idea of not using our immense numbers is foolish," Tugog stated with a roll of his eyes "but you have about three or four minutes to prove me wrong."

Gundza tossed him back and charged the girls with a roar.

Ruby and Weiss merely raised their weapon and hoped their teammates were doing better.

* * *

 **Garrison HQ**

"He just never listened to me!" Hork roared as he slammed his fist into the ground again, the thick stone cracking with every impact "NEVER NEVER NEVER LISTENED!"

He punctuated every Never with another punch, the cracks growing deeper.

"Of course I had to be tough on him, I'm the Elder! What the shrakh else was I supposed to do!? Encourage him to throw his damned life away just because it would make him happy!?"

Hork spun towards his subdued audience with fervor "If the Black Captains knew I was purposely allowing one of my subordinates to indulge like that, I'd be mounted on a wall in seconds, do you hear me!? And the punishment would be dozen strong for him, I couldn't let that happen!"

He turned and walked away before pacing a bit "We'd all be gored! I'm a Warchief, I have to act like it damn it!"

Yang didn't even have the courage to open her mouth and voice responses to his various ramblings, he'd be on her in seconds. Yang always joked around with Nora about being crazy party girls, and everyone agreed she could lose herself a bit when fighting, but watching someone literally talk himself into a mania was just chilling to watch.

"And Bubol, that rotten leech, I want to blame him for it all but I know someone else would've come along to feed his habit anyway! Oh, and the diseased filth used to be such a good soldier too! But then that mystic sack of shrakh got to him and now look at him!"

If there was one thing Yang was grateful for, it was that none of her teammates had to be in her place right now. Yeah, she could just focus on how much better they must be doing! It made the growing sense of finality much less noticeable.

* * *

Blake ducked into a door and closed it softly behind her before the gang of Uruks could spot her, she crouched down and held her breath as the sound of footsteps marched by.

"The Dreamer's got 'em downstairs! We can climb down and jump 'em while he's got 'em distracted!"

That made the Faunus pause, she'd gotten higher up the tower than Ruby and Weiss? They seemed to be in trouble if one of the Warchief's got them.

Tuka had taken up more time than she'd wanted to admit, if his victim hadn't turned on him she might still be there trying to put him down. After finally being able to continue, she'd tried ascending as many floors as possible without being spotted. She was making quick work too by the sounds of it. She was positive her teammates were higher up, but had they been having this much trouble?

She still didn't know where they could be holding Yang, so if she just focused on providing back up to Weiss and Ruby then-

"Hey Buddy!"

The barrel of Gambol Shroud was pointed towards an over-sized smile in the blink of an eye.

Standing over her crouched form was a friendly giant she damn well should've noticed before he ever had the chance to get this close.

Despite the gun in his face, Krimp gave a warm smile as always and whispered "Whatcha doing on the floor there, lass?"

It was getting more unnerving by the second how he just seemed to appear out of thin air like that, was he really just _that_ sneaky?

Blake pressed an ear against the door while keeping Gambol Shroud locked on the Uruk, when she didn't hear anything she finally spoke, "Krimp, please back away from me."

"Okey-dokey!" he giggled before taking several steps back and giving the Faunus some much needed breathing room "Still doesn't tell me what ya were doing though."

"I should be asking you that." Blake said as she rose, not yet willing to lower her gun

Krimp blinked before raising his arms wide and gesturing around him "What do ya mean? Just take a looksie around ya Blakey!"

She did, and finally noticed what kind of room she'd ducked into.

It was some kinda of armory, with weaponry big and small hung on the walls and lining stone tables. There was everything from crossbows to battle-axes, and the plethora of sharp implements did nothing to lessen the cat-eared girl's worries. At the far end of the room was an exit which led to a balcony of sorts, at the top of the doorway was a rolled up metal gate that looked as if it could be pulled down.

"What exactly do you have to do here?" Blake asked as Krimp turned to one of the tables of weapons and reached for something.

He then lifted an absolutely ridiculously large broadsword off the table with one hand and pointed towards it "I'm here for this!"

The thing was about the size of a full grown man, and its serrated edges gave it a gruesome look to it.

Blake almost felt sick just looking at it "What?"

"Well ya see," Krimp said as he reached under the table and pulled some cloth from under it "I know you was sneaking about trying to listen in on the boys talking to find out where our other friends are, so I did something similar to try and figure out where me bro is!"

"You- You knew what I was-" Blake shook her head "Have you been following me?"

"Nope, but best friends like us can just tell what the other would do in certain siituations." Krimp chuckled as he began wrapping up the sword "I bet if you went to an eatery and popped open one of the menus, you'd be able to tell what your friends would order!"

Blake could confirm that, yes. But the idea of being that predictable in tactics to someone she really couldn't figure out personally was... unsettling.

"So I- Oh, hold up a sec." Krimp turned away from and go on one knee as he tightened some part of the wrappings around the broadsword.

He grunted as he pulled on the cloth, but his position gave Blake a view of two things strapped to his back.

His weapons.

They seemed to have the build of the axes she'd seen Berserker Orcs using, at least in the handles. The blades themselves looked like an odd mix of curved scythes mixed with the regular axe blades. The very tips of the axes seemed to thin into hook-like picks, making for a very oddly shaped pair of weapons.

He hadn't had those when they were walking in the desert, had he been hiding them? When did he grab them?

"So I was listening about, and heard one of them saying how he was building a beautiful blade to present to me bro!" Krimp turned back to her with a smirk "I figured I'd deliver it to him!"

"You're taking that to your brother?"

"Yep!" Krimp pointed to the balcony behind him, "That thing's built close to a series of catwalks that leads all the way up the tower. I'mma use it to reach bro without getting in anyone's way. Though I'mma have ta go slow, I'm a big fella and -not knocking my bro's craftsmanship or anything- but if I fall out there it'll be a bit embarrassing. So I'mma take it real slow! Which is good, don't want to interrupt his time with Yang after all!"

That made Blake lower Gambol Shroud as she stepped forward with a "What?"

"Heard that from some fellas too, he has her up there with him. Don't really think interrupting him during an execution would be very polite, so I'm hoping by the time I climb all that, he'll be done! Then I can give him this beautiful blade and we can finally make up after-!"

He paused once he noticed Blake walking past him towards the balcony. Blinking, he turned to look at her with a confused grin "Oi Blake, where ya going lassie?"

"I'm saving my Partner." she stated as she walked towards the balcony with purpose. This changed everything.

She knew where Yang was, and from the sound of it she was in trouble on a majestic scale. Ruby and Weiss might be in a pickle, but they had each other. Yang was alone with Krimp's brother, what kind of partner would she be if she didn't do everything she could to help-?

"Oh Blakey..." Krimp said with a sad sigh

The unexpected note of disappointment made Blake pause as she turned to look at the large Uruk, who finished wrapping up the large blade and looked at her while strapping it to his back in-between his axes.

"You's a good friend o' mine, but I don't think Big Bro would like it much if you interrupted his thingie."

Blake blinked before her eyebrows knitted together in distaste "If I don't go, he'll kill Yang."

"I know!" Krimp said quickly before tapping his thick fingers together awkwardly "But he's my brother. I can't let ya make his life any more difficult, he's in a bad way from what I hear."

"Krimp, what if he was in trouble and I was suggesting not to help him?"

"I'd have to stop offering kindnesses for a full week!" the Uruk suggested heartily before growing serious, "I would do anything for my big bro, Blakey... and that does mean anything."

She saw him lower his hands to his sides, and quickly took several steps back "I have to help her, you aren't going to stop me."

"The way I see it," Krimp began as he reached for one of the handles on his back "you wont feel as bad about not interruptin' me bro if you was placed in some kinda situation where ya couldn't help it. So all's I gotta do is keep you incapacitated till he's all done, then you can just blame me instead of blaming yourself buddy!"

The wholehearted and cheerful way he spoke did nothing to still the sweat which began to form on Blake's brow as she watched him draw one of his odd axes.

Steeling herself, Blake took a deep breath...

...followed immediately by turning and bolting for the balcony.

An odd screeching sound started immediately after she began moving, and she made the initial mistake of glancing to her side just to see what she could only describe as a high-speed spinning circle of metal carve along the wall to her right before launching towards her. Halting her forward momentum, she leaned forward just enough for the spinning edge to pass over her. However, the sound of thundering footsteps reached her too late for her to regain her initial speed, and she felt a massive hand grab hold of her shoulder before she was suddenly yanked into the air.

Her ascent was followed immediately by a quick descent, and she quickly used her semblance to escape Krimp's grasp right before he threw the resulting clone to the ground with enough force to shatter it immediately.

That had almost been her, Blake swallowed down the realization as she saw him reach up to catch the spinning circle. It had been his axe, just how hard had he thrown it?!

She had no time to question it, as the Uruk drew the other axe with his free hand and launched himself at her. Blake threw herself back as both of his axes left gaping scars in the floor she previously stood upon. But with a simple twist of his ankle, he spun towards her mid-strike.

Blake launched out of the Blacksmith's room, only this time there was a shocked Uruk in the hall who immediately dropped some rubble he had and reached for his blade upon seeing her.

He was the least of her concerns.

She turned away from him and darted away from the doorway as Krimp quite literally slid out with both of his axes cocked back. The smaller Uruk's confidence was shattered upon seeing the Warchief's brother, and he quickly turned and fled as Krimp got his bearings. The second Blake was back in his sight, his axes were sent spinning after her. The Faunus felt her Cat-Ears twitch, but she didn't need them to hear the incoming screech as his weapons sliced through air on their way to her. With a bit of timing, Blake twisted as the Blades reached her, letting them pass by her just as a shadow loomed over her.

She had forgotten just how freakishly quick he was.

As Krimp's bare fist plunged downward, its collision with the ground was followed by some of the surrounding sand being kicked up from the sheer force.

Once it settled, Krimp looked down and was momentarily stunned at the sight of his arm elbow deep in Blake's stomach, but the heavy breathing brought his attention up to the real Blake who had just barely avoided the fate of her clone. Krimp smiled at her again "Wow Blakey, I knew you were flighty but wowsers!"

The Faunus was still stuck on the sight of her limp form gored by the Uruk's arm "What happened to incapacitating me?!"

"Aw, if I had hit ya, ya wouldn't end up like this one, ol' friend o mine!" Krimp chittered with child-like glee as he stood, casually waving the impaled doppelganger around like a sock puppet "Ya Aura would soak up most o' that, because you's strong. This ain't enough to kill ya!"

Blake new for a fact that, had she been caught in a strike like that, she may not share her clone's fate but death would not be far off. She also realized that Krimp might not realize how close to death these "incapacitating" attacks might bring her.

As the shadow Blake began fading, Krimp raised both his arms with a chirrup as the screeching sound of his spinning axes grew again. Blake turned and ran, dodging out of the way of the incoming axes as they returned to their weilder.

Krimp caught them with little fanfare before darting after the raven-haired Faunus, his pounding footsteps soon drowned out by his own joyous humming as he closed in.

"Run run, as fast you can!" Krimp sang casually as Blake tried and failed to outpace him "You can't escape me, I'm ya bestest friend!"

She ignored his song and focused more on the path in front of her, the hallway curved slightly, but there was very little debris for her to worry about tripping over. Of course, that meant that she had nothing to trip up Krimp. She remembered vividly how the rounds from her weapon barely did anything to him back in Vale, and knew that trying to turn and aim for one of his eyes would give him ample time to catch up. She couldn't take him in close quarters.

Despite her speed, she could hear him closing the distance. The sound of his trunk-like legs tearing bits of the ground up as he ran drew ever closer, she just needed something that could slow him down.

"They're coming! Close it!"

Up ahead were two Uruks standing on either side of the hall with their hands wrapped around levers. The second the duo spotted Blake and her pursuer they yanked down on the levers and a thick metal gate began descending from the ceiling.

Seeing her chance, Blake pushed her legs harder and activated her semblance.

With the aid of another Shadow clone, she managed to slip underneath the gate just as it reached the bottom.

"She got through!" One of the Uruks shouted as he knelt down and picked up a spear. Blake turned to intercept the incoming jab when the sound of a steel train colliding with a brick wall caused her and the Uruks to pause as the ground shook.

Krimp had collided with the gate full force and managed to wedge his massive head in its bars, which strained to hold the Uruk back.

"That... that shouldn't be possible." The Spear-Wielder deadpanned in terror as his partner jerked away from the gate

"That's the Friendly!" his partner shouted as he forewent trying to grab his own weapon and instead turned tail and ran "Get away before he breaks through!"

Blake was left watching as the sandstone brick walls began giving, cracking around the gate as Krimp continued forcing his mass against it.

"Sorry for breakin' ya gate, big bro!" He said to the sky before scrunching his face up and pushing harder "But I needs to let you have ya moment!"

Blake decided to follow the example of the other Uruks and make a break for it, quickly outpacing the duo as the gate was quite literally torn from the wall.

* * *

A shield bearer was thrown from the hallway into the central chamber from a round from Crescent Rose, his half-broken shield sliding away as he struggled to rise.

"Oi," Rightie shouted as he knealt beside him "you still good to go?"

"I can't feel my arm!" Leftie cried out

"Good, remember this next time you start whining about wanting some action."

"Shield-Bearer!"

Rightie dropped his injured friend with the grace of a sack of potatoes before looking over to Gundza, who was pointing a spear towards both the two Huntresses that were on either side of him, "Tell me your master has the drop on one of them!"

"He's asleep."

One could literally hear the sound of the Shadow's patience being snapped like a wooden rod as he glanced back to find Tugog resting against his staff.

"Ruby, now!" Weiss shouted before pointing towards the lift.

"Get that thing out of here!" the Hunter shouted to Rightie before turning and throwing one of his spears at the sleeping Warchief "You aren't making me lose them again!"

The spear collided with the Dreamer's staff, shifting it just enough to make the bell hanging in its ring to release a loud chime. The sound woke Tugog immediately, who looked over his staff before simply saying, "So that's it."

Rightie reached the lift's control lever just as Weiss and Ruby darted towards Gundza simultaneously. Gripping his spear in both hands, he began deflecting the duo's flurry of blows before a red-lined boot landed on his head and Ruby quite literally launched herself off him towards the lift.

While he was still reeling, Weiss slipped past him to follow her teammate to the now rising platform.

Rightie turned and raised his shield just as Ruby sped into him scythe first and almost managed to knock him off the lift.

Gundza growled and darted after the heiress just as she leaped off a glyph towards the platform.

"They're still here!"

His attention snapped to one of the nearby entrances as the horde of pursuers finally reached them and began dashing towards the lift as others made for nearby stairways and ladders.

Gritting his teeth Gundza leaped and grabbed hold of the edge of the lift, pulling himself up just in time to see the two girls overwhelm Rightie. Busy deflecting icicle projectiles, he wasn't able to turn in time to avoid the back of Crescent Rose. The weapon cracked him in the back of the head, rendering him unconscious immediately. Gundza rolled his eyes as the shield-bearer collapsed to his knees and fell face-first onto the platform between the girls.

Gundza crouched and launched himself towards the unconscious shield bearer, startling the two girls, who backed away as he immediately slipped in.

"Getting... better." Gundza growled as he stood in his new body on somewhat unstable legs and stumbled back.

Ruby wasn't willing to give him time to catch his breath, and moved to swipe at him when a roar from above brought her attention skyward.

An Uruk came sailing down from above and tackled Ruby to the ground before her strike could connect, the two of them tumbling to the edge of the lift as Ruby wedged Crescent Rose between them and tried prying him off.

Weiss blinked before raising her gaze, several Uruks were flinging themselves towards the lift from the floors above. A great number were also trying to catch up with them by racing up the tower by any means they could find.

Ruby finally managed to kick her attacker off her, sending him tumbling over the edge just as two more landed where he once stood.

As the girls began contending with the pursuers, flinging as many as they could from the platform before they could be overwhelmed, Gundza managed to get accustomed to the Defender's body. He was getting better at it, if the decreasing time between possession and usability was anything to go by.

Gritting his teeth and turning his blackened eyes towards the two young women, Gundza tossed the shield off the side of the lift and hefted his large halberd in both hands before darting towards a distracted Ruby. However, Weiss had perfect view of the oncoming Uruk, and quickly slid back out of the range of a sword to call it out.

"Ruby!" she shouted.

The Scythe wielder turned towards her just enough to notice the approaching figure. She spun with Crescent Rose and deflected the halberd.

Its weight dragged Gundza back a bit, but he used that to angle it back and wrap the curved edge around the lever before yanking it off.

The Lift wouldn't slow, it's taking them all the way straight to his master! Won't the gatekeeper be so pleased to see it!

Gundza grinned before charging into the fray again. As the girls contested with him and the pursuers, a loud sound began growing from beneath the lift.

Though she was busy with the Uruks, Ruby could confirm that it sounded almost like some kind of jet engine.

But as soon as the sound became unavoidably noticeable, a figure launched itself up onto the Lift whilst trailing flame behind him.

As it landed, the fighters were just surprised enough to pause.

The figure rose, revealing none other than Tugog the Dreamer, who should be quite a number of floors down at this point.

"Marvelous!" the Warchief said with a slight pant before turning to his staff, which had trails of smoke wafting from where the red dust crystals used to be. The bell in the staff chimed with every move he made, it was far louder than a bell of its size had any right to be. The Warchief drew several dust crystals from his clothing and slipped them into the now empty slots, then tapped the staff to the ground several times and watched as the crystals lit up in response.

"Now," he turned back to the girls and held the staff in two hands a two blue crystals glowed brighter "let's see if my visions hold true."

Gundza backed to the edge of the lift as the Dreamer swept the staff towards the ground and released a trail of frosty spikes which the girls had to dart away from. Unfortunately, several Uruks were blasted back by the spikes, though others were clever enough to follow the girls example.

As soon as Ruby regained her footing, she heard the chime of the bell grow nearer and turned to block the staff as it was set ablaze and slammed down against her.

She quickly shoved it back and spun her scythe into another nearby Uruk before turning the barrel of her weapon on Dreamer.

He slipped out of the way of the first shot as the ice crystals on his staff glowed again. Sweeping it up just in front of him, his staff erected a wall of ice between them that cracked with every round from Crescent Rose.

"Speed, if I remember." he commented as his ice wall was whittled away, before looking at his staff and activating several green crystals.

The second the wall shattered, he sped through its fallen remains and whipped his staff towards her far faster than a weapon of its size should be.

Ruby had to activate her semblance to dodge the first three swipes before spinning and clashing weapons with him.

Meanwhile, Weiss was weaving through the wide swings of Gundza's halberd, her small figure and nimbleness making the weapons heavy attacks fairly avoidable.

The problem were the other Uruks who kept taking the place of any she managed to knock over.

One or two would dart in and take swing at her while Gundza raised his weapon again, usually they'd get caught in his attack but that still left few times for retaliation.

Weiss ducked under one of their swings and leaped over his halberd before sailing towards him feet first. The Shadow raised his free arm to defend himself, but the Hieress landed on a glyph summoned inches from his face.

The second it took for him to back away from it, Weiss crouched and launched away from the glyph just as it shot forward and smacked Gundza in the side of the head. He wheeled, nearing the edge dangerously before swinging his halberd back to counterbalance himself. Weiss landed and ducked under the slash of another Uruk's axes, but caught sight of the incoming halberd quick enough to leap over it. It caught her attacker square in the chest and flung him towards Tugog just as the Warchief sent Ruby rolling back to her partner's side.

Tugog watched the thrown Uruk scramble to his feet just as another with a set of throwing knives landed at his side. As the two rushed to engage the girls, the Dreamer looked to his staff before placing a finger to his lip.

"I wonder." he said before gripping it in two hands and raising it over his head.

He focused as the dust crystals on the bottom of the ring lit up, then the ones above them began lighting slowly as well.

Ruby bobbed and wheeved as knives were embedded in the platform around her, the Uruk throwing them cackling as he drew another set from his belt. Pinching the blades between his fingers like claws, he dove at her as the Uruk with the axes followed behind.

Ruby threw herself to the side as he lunged blades-first, the knives finding themselves slashing at the platform as he turned to see Ruby turning to swing at the axe-wielder. Grinning, he turned and leaped at her again while her back was turned.

The Axe- wielder saw the incoming scythe and ducked under it, but Ruby kept swing and slashed the knife thrower out of the air. He went sailing off the side with a trail of his blades following him.

She continued spinning it towards her other opponent, but he merely stepped into range and locked the handle of Crescent Rose in between his axes before ramming his head against Ruby's. She fell onto her back, but yanked her rifle-scythe in-between her legs to steady it as the Uruk swung at her. His axes failed to connect before he was blasted off his feet, but as Ruby hurried to follow-up she spotted Tugog.

The ring on his staff was now covered in electricity, a large blue form was taking shape above it. She realized it was a large blade of water which the electricity quickly began running through as the lower ring was engulfed in flame.

He was using all of them at once, she realized.

Her attention drawn from the still-dazed Axe user, Ruby aimed Crescent Rose behind her to dash into him as quickly as she could.

Before she could, however, Gundza slammed the tip of his halberd into her scythe with enough force to widely throw off her aim and destroy his weapon in the process. Before the Shadow could even back up, the tip of Myrtenaster sliced across his face as Weiss sailed by.

Gundza groaned and drew a spear before swiping at the Heiress as she slid by and swiped at his torso some more.

Ruby was still reeling from the strike, glad that she hadn't fired or else she could've accidentally blasted herself off the platform. However...

She turned to see Tugog's staff still being covered in the powers of all the dust in it at once, she could see the Warchief struggling with just holding the thing "Tugog! Not all dust reacts well together! That thing could explode!"

"Even so-" Tugog paused to wrangle the now violently shaking staff

"What is he doing!?" seems Ruby's partner finally took note of the Warchief's actions, and her distraction was enough to make even Gundza glance towards the Warchief instead of capitalizing.

"Now then!" Tugog reeled back with the violently shaking weapon just as the Axe-Wielder began leaning up again "Let's see!"

The moment the Dreamer swung it towards her, Ruby could easily see he barely had control over it. The staff practically pulled the Warchief along with it, he spun wildly as it continued dragging him towards them.

Ruby threw herself under the staff as he passed by, the now spinning Uruk's weapon searing the ground below despite not even being near it.

Gundza and Weiss both went wide-eyed as Tugog spun closer to them, the Heiress immediately following her partner's example and diving under the staff.

The Shadow quickly assumed his current body was too large and threw his spear up into the air above before launching out of him. Rightie had only a second to realize he was in control of his body again before a hellish mix of multiple dust types slammed into him full force and sent him sailing off the side of the Elevator.

Gundza managed to lunge over the staff as soon as he was free from the Defender's body, and Weiss spotted him falling towards her just in time to roll under him as he collided with the ground.

They both kept low as Tugog pulled himself away from the edge of the lift and continued spinning towards the other side. Pressured by the violently glowing staff above, Gundza reached up just enough to catch his spear before jabbing it towards the heiress.

The three continued ducking, dodging and leaping over Tugog as he spun out of control, the sound of violent bell chimes filled the central chamber as even the Pursuers refrained from boarding the lift while the spinning Warchief's weapon raged.

Gundza didn't care much, as long as they reached the garrison he could care less how! But as he and Weiss split away from each other to avoid Tugog's staff again, he heard the sound of Crescent Rose being cocked.

His eyes darted towards Ruby, who was trying to aim at the Warchief before he spun back over to her. Gundza couldn't aim his spear with the spinning staff so close, so instead flung it sideways towards her.

It collided with Ruby's shoulder as she fired, the round ended up striking Tugog's side and he stumbled just enough for the staff to overpower him. He was dragged off the side of the Lift, his grip finally loosened as he landed on a lower floor. As soon as the staff slipped from his grasp, the storm-like assembly of dust energy cut off. The staff clattered to the ground beside him with the bell giving several dull chimes as its wielder watched the lift ascend away from him.

With the threat of the staff gone, Gundza and the girls rose and turned their weapons on each other.

After some breaths, Gundza cracked his neck before drawing another spear.

"Nobody to hide in now, hm?" Ruby asked

Gundza merely looked between them for a moment before pointing his spear upwards.

Seconds later several Uruks leaped from higher levels to resume their pursuit.

"We always have numbers child!" the Shadow bit as the pursuers lunged for the girls "You're always outnumbered!"

Weiss and Ruby merely gave each other looks before rushing to intercept the Uruks.

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

"I've retrieved... my journal."

Ratlug leaned up in his chair and moved his lens-less glasses a bit as he turned to the side to see a tome held near his head.

Holding said tome was the Shaman, who's odd eyes peered down from the all-encompassing robes he wore.

The Fake Surgeon leaned up in his chair "Is 'at so?" he grinned "Then seems Horkie boy ain't gotta put up with us much longer. Hear that boys?"

He looked forward to one of his researchers, who wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead as he took pictures of the very edge of the floor in front of him. Ratlug's chair was situated near the large shaft which ran through the central chamber of the tower. One of their last issues was seeing how they could make the poor excuse of an elevator here go faster without risking the safety of the resources it may carry.

The researcher didn't look up from his work, merely gave a small glance back to the tinkerer before holding up his scroll and taking some more pictures.

Ratlug frowned before turning to look at a nearby wall, where the second researcher was holding a measuring stick against a wall. He too merely angled the cigarette in his mouth a bit before focusing on his work.

"A problem?" the Shaman asked as Ratlug sagged back into his seat

"Oh their just mad they don't get to lounge about with a can of sweet tark drink at their side." Ratlug reached on the other side of the chair and pulled a can from a small container before popping it open "It ain't grog, but it sure does hate the body I'll tell ya what!"

He took a deep chug before pulling the can away and laughing "Hahaha! Tastes like punishment!"

The photographer sighed "Sir, its not that we don't like our work. Its just that there's a Tark-Hunt we currently are unable to attend because of it."

"That crazed bastard of a Warchief said we weren't to do anything but our research while we was here," Ratlug said as he shook the can a bit "that means we ain't dealing with any shrakh he lured to this hovel of a keep."

"Then... we leave soon?" The Shaman asked before being distracted by what sounded like approaching sound of gunfire.

Ratlug was unconcerned "You can leave whenever you want now that ya got your book. And we get to go as soon... as soon as... The shrakh is that?"

He couldn't ignore the sound either, and he stood from his seat to walk next to the photographer, who was staring down the elevator shaft towards the source.

As soon as he looked over, Ratlug spotted a flurry of colliding weapons and dust rounds riding the lift up towards them.

In the midst of the battle he spotted Gundza darting between the red and white huntresses from the Arena. Oh yeah, Yellow's teammate and sister if he remembered well.

The Shaman stepped beside him and gave a hum as he watched the approaching battle "Didn't expect them to get this far yet... impressive."

"Sir?" the Photographer questioned the fake doctor as one of his hands drifted to the multi-gun which dangled on his shoulder strap.

Ratlug in-turn glanced to the Storm Ruler "Well?"

But Pugrish merely sighed before turning away "Hork doesn't wish... for our intereference... with his tower."

"Are you kidding me?!"

The three turned to the other researcher near the wall, who pulled the cigarette from his mouth and hefted his own oddly shaped gun "We go through all the trouble of making these beauties specifically for tark huntsmen like these, we got prime testing materials here!"

"Hey, gatekeeper said to keep focused on the building and whatnot." Ratlug chuckled before moving back to his chair and lying back "He must surely be capable of dealing with a few youngling whelps like them, eh?"

Though the the two researchers both looked like they wished to argue the point, both the Photographer and the Smoker grudgingly returned to their duties.

Or at least, the Smoker was going to return to his duties when two Uruks sped from a nearby hall with fearful cries.

The Researcher was momentarily distracted by the running Uruks, so much so that he almost missed the faunus-shaped blur which followed after them.

But none could miss the hulking form which quite literally exploded from the hall behind her.

Leaving the hallway behind him covered in scratches and other signs of damage, Krimp lunged after Blake with a large section of metal gate still wrapped around his neck.

It was just ridiculous enough to illicit a chuckle from the Stormbringer as he watched the usually friendly Uruk race after the fleeing faunus, with the large gate doing next to nothing to slow him down.

"By the Dark Lord." Ratlug commented as he turned in his seat with a huge grin plastered on his face "Haven't seen him going full force in a good long while!"

Behind the Storm Captains, the lift continued its ascent as the battle atop it raged on. Ruby just finished crushing another Uruk under the weight of Crescent Rose when she spotted Blake of all people on a dead run towards them.

"Blake!" the Young Leader cheered just as Gundza took note of her distraction.

The Faunus had taken note of her teammates the second she entered the room, and the lift they were on... it should work just as quickly as the catwalks in getting to the top. Keeping track of the heavy footsteps of Krimp behind her, Blake suddenly halted her running and threw herself back.

Krimp was unprepared, and the Faunus landed against the large section of metal gate still wrapped around his head as he tried and failed to skid to a sudden stop. The gate prevented him from outright swinging up towards her with his weapons, so he tried slipping one through the bars. But by then Blake had already planted her feet on the bars and used them to launch herself up towards the lift.

At the same time, Gundza turned away from Weiss and darted towards Ruby.

Seeing his aim, the Heiress started to call out to her partner when another Uruk rammed the end of a staff into the back of her knee. Though sucked up by her Aura, the attack did bring the Heiress to her other knees as he spun with the staff. Weiss had just enough time to lean as far back as she could to let the staff swing harmlessly over her.

Ruby's keen ears managed to pick up on Weiss's interrupted shout, and she turned just as Gundza dove at her spear-first.

Time seemed to slow down as Ruby tried shifting out of the way and blocking at the same time...

... the result being Gundza sailing past her and colliding with Blake mid-air. Ruby went wide-eyed as she watched the two sail back and land on Krimp's metal gate, the force of two bodies hitting it at once being enough to send the massive Uruk stumbling back.

Ruby was prepared to jump off the lift and help when the rattling of chains and a gasp made her eyes dart back.

An Uruk had gotten a thick chain wrapped around Weiss's upper torso, pinning her arms to her sides as the Staff-Wielder began raising his weapon with deadly intent.

Blake was still slightly dazed, she had been in the middle of jumping to her teammates when something crashed into her, bringing her back down onto the large section of fence still stuck on Krimp.

She had landed back first, and had only now become conscious of the weight on her.

Gundza had landed on the gate atop her, and was still shaking off the unexpected collision when the two locked eyes.

Recognition hitting them at the same time, Blake's eyes filled with dread as Gundza's rage was ignited tenfold, "You!" he growled out with hatred seeping from his very pores as he began raising a spear "WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS IN MY WAY!?"

Blake tried raising Gambol Shroud, but suddenly one of Krimp's curved blades slid through the bars and yanked her hand down to the bars with it.

"Gotcha buddy!" Krimp cheered as he aimed for her other hand while trying to balance the two of them atop his gate.

Blake managed to whip the cleaver sheath up and out of Krimp's reach just in time to block the Shadow's spear, but Gundza pressed on. He leaned up and grabbed the spear tightly with two hands as he pressed it harder "Stop it!" He grunted as he tried forcing his way past her guard "Just die!"

But two hands were better than one, and Blake could feel her grip on the Cleaver-like sheath failing as the Assassin pressed against it.

Above, Ruby swung her scythe over the edge of the lift and angled it towards Gundza as fast as she could before holding her breath and pulling the trigger.

The recoil sent her spinning backwards into the staff wielder before he could brain her partner, just as the round slammed into Gundza's back and he slumped forward just enough.

Both Weiss and Blake acted immediately.

The Faunus had just the right opportunity to swipe the tip of the spear away from her, but the force still pressed on it sent it sailing down past the bars and into Krimp's wrist. The spear snapped at its tip, unable to puncture the Uruk's hide, but was able to make his grip loosen just enough for Blake to wrench her hand free. Gundza recovered from the blast and leaned out of the way as Blake fired at him, but this took enough of his weight off her for the Faunus to slip a leg out from under him. Before Gundza could raise his spear again, Blake slammed her foot into his chest and sent him sailing off the grate and into the elevator shaft.

Weiss spun towards the Uruk holding the chain, which bunched around her as she closed in. He saw her raising her rapier as much as she could, and quickly reached for a jagged, short sword at his hip. But he couldn't match her speed, and the tip of Myrtenaster jabbed at him with enough momentum behind it to send him stumbling back as his grip on the chain loosened. Weiss moved to wriggle free of the bindings, when she heard, "Duck!" and promptly dropped to a knee as Ruby sailed over her and slashed the Uruk off the lift.

Once the immediate threat was dealt with, Ruby ran back to the edge of the lift just in time to see Blake roll off of Krimp's gate.

Blake looked up at them, in the time it had taken to deal with Gundza the lift had risen far too high for her to reach in time. But if she had something to leap off of.

After lunging under one of Krimp's blades, the Faunus glanced around frantically to find anything she could use as leverage. Soon her eyes turned to a large chain hanging down from the lift which seemed to trail all the way back down to the ground floor. Perhaps it was used to keep it steady when going up and down? Just as she began thinking of a proper way to get past Krimp and dive for it, she spotted a spear wedged into one of the chain's links. Holding onto one end of the spear was Gundza, apparently he'd kept himself from plummeting to the first floor with a well timed jab of his weapon.

As Krimp swung towards her again, Blake made a split decision and shifted Gambol Shroud to its pistol form.

Gundza, still winded by the close-call he managed to avoid, turned at the sound of a cocking pistol and spotted Blake. Gasping, the Shadow reached up and tried to get a better hold of the chain when a dust round hit his spear dead center and split it in half, sending him flailing towards the ground floor once again.

Blake wasted no time in leaping back over Krimp as his weapons carved gashes into the floor she once stood upon.

"Blake!"

Her attention was drawn up to Ruby, who looked ready to jump down and help her.

"Yang's at the top!" the Faunus shouted back to her team leader as her weapon changed back to a blade "You need to get to her, quickly!"

"You's just makin' my job harder, bestie." Krimp cooed as he slipped his axes into the bars near his head, with a grunt off effort he began prying the gate apart with his weapons "It's okay, I'll always forgive you!"

Taking one last look at the ascending lift, Blake turned away from the Uruk and darted back towards one of the nearby passageways just as the sound of his excessively joyous laughter began spewing forth from his mouth again. If it wasn't for her Faunus hearing, she'd be spared the sound of his weapons carving massive gashes into the solid walls around them. She wouldn't have to hear the disproportionately warm giggles that echoed from the wielder of those blades, wouldn't associate these sounds with the comforting, friendly smile her pursuer no doubt had plastered on his face like always.

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

"We need ya to come with us."

The joyful smile on Uthug's face melted into a disbelieving frown almost instantly.

In front of him was the large entrance of the Tower, its double doors hanging open as light spilled in, beyond he could see the tips of several shanties. He had made his way down the structure with a grin, the ease with which he moved towards freedom bolstered his resolve with each step. On the way he passed dozens of small hunting parties who scrambled over each other to catch up with the tarks above, no doubt they'd wasted most of their time trying to find the faunus in the Shanties. But the numbers of Uruks dwindled as he neared the ground floor until he was face to face with his objective.

The ground floor looked more empty than it ever had been prior, Hork's soldiers gone off somewhere and the peons they were to govern now rampaging in the upper floors trying to catch the pinkskin interlopers. The stairway Uthug had descended from was right across from the large entrance, its doors having been left open carelessly by one of the hunting parties no doubt. Between him and his exit was the bottom of the great central shaft which the lift traveled along. As Uthug passed under it, he looked up and squinted hard. He could just about make out the circular shape of the lift ascending far up the tower.

No doubt whoever was operating the lift at the time was also wasting their time hunting the intruders. Uthug smiled at the thought of several grunts fighting over the lever and arguing over what floor they should search next. He shook his head and continued towards his true goal.

Perhaps if he had better eyesight he'd have noticed the signs of battle atop the lift, or the small shapes being thrown from the lift towards floors below.

Instead he smiled wider as he approached the exit, his hand about to grab the edge when two figures entered abruptly.

Garrison Soldiers, the first he'd seen in what felt like forever. He didn't need to see the dark armor or the black tatoos on their exposed skin to know who they were, he knew that familiar sense of irritation that crept up whenever one of them was around.

"We need ya to come with us."

One of them had placed a hand against Uthug the moment he spotted him, halting him before he could leave and pushing him back inside the tower.

The Warrior was still slightly stunned by the sudden arrival of Hork's underlings, having been convinced they'd be at the forefront of the hunt currently occurring in the upper floors. But as he caught his footing, a familiar frown formed as he grumbled towards the Garrison Soldiers, "What?"

The one who had pushed him ran his hand through a dirty, short mohawk while grinning down at him "Well we kinda need's a bit of an alibi, ya follow?"

The Looter wasn't impressed, his anger at being interrupted before his escape blossoming into a slow-burning flame of rage at the statement "The Shrahk do you mean alibi, let me by you-"

And then it struck him, making him pause mid yell as he realized the meaning behind the Mohawk-sporting Uruk's words. He would never say he was an intellect, even among the hordes of meatheads and idiots that usually get hauled out of the spawn pits, but he was damn smart enough to put things together. Their timing, their words and even why they were here instead of hunting down intruder's in their Warchief's keep.

"You were looking for the Hybrid!" Uthug exclamation, causing the Garrison Duo to chuckle

"Yeah," Mohawk's partner tilted his bald head and rubbed at his nose "got me a whiff of Tark Beast runnin' about. Thought we could nab her ourselves, but the Warchief sent some runners down early on to recall everyone up top for something."

"We may have prioritized the Beast Girl." Mohawk finished "And now we need a good explanation for why we weren't upstairs with the rest of the boys."

"And how the bloody shrakh is dragging me up there gonna help?!" Uthug shouted, causing Mohawk to snicker some more

"Making sure other whelps follow orders seems pretty good an excuse." Baldie pointed out.

Uthug stammered as he felt an eyelid begin twitching in irritation "I couldn't have heard the summons! I was unconscious and strapped to a wheel for lord knows how long!"

That made the Garrison Soldiers pause and look him over for a bit...

...before promptly doubling over in laughter at his explanation.

"Strapped to a wheel he says!" yelped the one with the Mohawk "Oh the lads'll have a hoot over that one!"

Uthug merely stared, stricken into silence by their mocking laughter. He had been riding so high just moments ago, yet now as he watched these brawny bastards chuckle and holler over what was literally life or death for him, he realized that annoyance would find him despite Tuka's death. Tuka had just been one cog out of the hundreds of annoyances that formed the machinations of his hatred.

The Looter looked down at his hand for a moment, his other tapping the bayonet of his musket against the ground as he remembered just how free he felt before these wretches decided to step all over his fun.

"Ahaha," Mohawk wiped a tear from his eyes and turned back to Uthug "but seriously, let's get a move-"

His eyes landed on the tip of a bayonet before Uthug blasted a hole in his head.

It was at that very moment, when the relief of being rid of yet another annoyance washed over him that Uthug truly recognized how great it was to just not have to deal with someone anymore. The Mohawk-sporting Garrison soldier had an annoying voice, and now Uthug had the pleasure of living in a world where he wouldn't have to hear it ever again.

Unfortunately for him, Baldie wasn't as slow as his companion. The remaining Garrison Soldier had jumped at the sudden murder of his cohort, but a quick growl and the telling shimmer of a weak aura activating preceded him drawing a mace from his belt.

Uthug turned the musket on him next, but the one round he managed to get out was blunted by the Soldier's aura as he charged. Uthug ducked under the mace and spun behind the Soldier, who turned and raised his mace again only for a dust round to slam into his shoulder and throw him back several steps.

The Graverobber lunged in and rammed the side of his musket against the Soldier's throat, forcing him back several steps in order to continue breathing. He swiped at Uthug, who slipped back before jabbing his bayonet into the side of his quarry's leg.

His Aura wasn't able to hold up, and the unexpected slash brought him to a knee as he raised his mace to defend. But Uthug didn't strike, instead he slipped behind the fallen foe and wrapped his musket around his neck and arm.

Uthug pulled hard, his growing grin turning to a snarl as Baldie rammed his free arm back into his captor's gut.

Seeing red, Uthug hauled the other Uruk off the ground before tossing him onto his back.

The Garrison Soldier started getting up, when he caught sight of something in the central shaft above which gave him pause, "What the-?"

That pause would be his undoing, however, as Uthug quickly leaped upon him and pinned both his arms under his knees. He quickly grabbed hold of the bayonet and twisted before sliding it off the musket and plunging it into the Soldier's face.

As any proud Uruk would hope to say, this wasn't enough. Despite the gruesome blade lodged just under one of his eyes, the Garrison Soldier merely released a yell as he jerked his shoulders. Uthug struggled a bit to keep him pinned, but resolved instead to tear the bayonet out and stab again.

And then again.

And yet again.

Over and over he plunged the bayonet down into the pinned Uruk's face, even after he finally stopped moving. Uthug was just feeling so unimaginably happy right now, that made three annoyances he had the pleasure of never having to deal with again. Why hadn't he just started killing things earlier? Ashgarn had always seemed like such a threat back when he served under him, but he could've been killed in his sleep. The Poet and the Singer could've been culled, hell he could've dealt with Tuka before he even had to go on this stupid venture in the first place!

"It would've been like this!" he cheered as he brought the blade down again "And this!"

Perhaps if he wasn't in such a state of euphoric realization he would have noticed the sound of a growing scream earlier. It was coming from above, growing louder as it drew nearer. But maybe Uthug's uncharacteristic laughter of actual, tangible joy drowned it out. It wouldn't be able to forever though, and soon his laughs diminished as the scream finally registered and made the Looter frown.

Confused at the source, he looked up to see a shadowy figure sailing down the central shaft towards him.

Uthug only had time to open his mouth for a yell before the shadow slammed into him.

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

Gundza didn't know what happened, one second he was sent plummeting down what felt like dozens of floors on a crash course for solid ground when something had gotten under him. It took him several seconds to realize he'd somehow managed to land himself in yet another body. Another few seconds to realize his body had just finished brutally murdering one of Hork's soldiers.

Black blood seeping into his clothes and two parts of a weapon in either hand, there was no other possibility.

Gundza had been so shocked he hadn't been splattered on the ground, he'd only been using his semblance with the hope that a bug or something would fly by he could leap into but this... this...

This was perfect.

Standing, Gundza looked over himself. Besides the blood of the unfortunate soldier beneath him, he seemed dressed in a more mangy version of the uniforms those hyrbid extremists donned. Odd. Stranger more was the weapon he assumed to belong to the body, as he knew it as a musket but the blade piece in his other hand suggested a bayonet. What would a grunt be doing with something like this? The only Uruks Gundza could think of who could make something such as this were the Storm.

Gundza shook his head, these were all questions for later. He turned his attention up towards the distant lift above. The girls had quite a lead on him, but if they were heading to the Garrison's trap like he expected them to, he might be able to catch up if he pushed himself. It wouldn't be easy, there were hundreds of others currently clogging most of the stairs and ladders, which meant he'd have to find a way to get passed them and-

Where were the headaches?

It was a small thought which raced to the forefront of his mind once Gundza realized he hadn't suffered the usual penalty for jumping to a new body. He'd slipped in seamlessly, and was already controlling it and everything, which should be a good thing. He'd noticed the time between possession and usage growing smaller with each host but this was wrong. Even the door guard he'd been in previously had taken time to get moving and then he had to fight whilst still suffering severe headaches.

This wasn't right, this seemed-

 _Who in the Shrakh are you?_

Gundza paused, having forgotten about the body's true owner due to their silence "Look, traitor. I don't have time to explain-"

 _WHO IN THE SHRAKH ARE YOU!?_

Gundza paused, far more violent than expected but he'd worked with worst. So with a sigh he turned to the nearby stairs and set forth, "I have to get going if I want to catch up them, fledgling, so be quiet and-"

 _GET OUT!_

A tangible rage slammed into Gundza halting his progress as he nearly found himself throwing up at the utter contempt which began radiating inside him.

"How the hell are you-?!"

 _OUT!_

Another wave of purified malice careened into his head with the force of a truck as the headaches he'd been free from returned with hellish vengeance. The Shadow felt as though his spirit itself was being dipped inside acid, who exactly had he jumped into that could produce a reaction like this? Everyone else he'd slipped into, all of them reacted somewhat differently to having another soul slip into the driver's seat. Whether it be the madness of Gimub or Mitch's pathetic defense, Gundza had felt something different from them all.

The hardest had been that self-centered Atlesian bastard, militaristic livelihood led to him instinctively hunkering down with as many military secrets as he could while waiting for a chance to resume control. An annoyance indeed, but not one that interfered with his plans.

But none of them held even a fraction of the almost palpable rage seeping from this spirit, a rage so strong it made moving a chore.

"What-!?" Gundza gasped as he was struck by annoyances of a varying degree "What are you doing?!"

 _Get out of my body you bastard! I just reached true freedom! Just removed my last obstacles! YOU AREN'T TAKING THIS FROM ME!_

Gritting his teeth, Gundza tried forcing down the whirlwind of rage as his limbs slowly continued towards the stairs. The Shadow was not about to be overwhelmed by some random whelp with a bad attitude!

 _I WAS SO CLOSE, SO DAMNED CLOSE YOU SHRAKH!_

"Quiet!" Gundza hissed as he slowly sped up, every movement feeling as if he was wading through a molten river of spite. But he persevered, this peon's irritations would not keep from his prize, "We're going after them!"

 _Who?_

"The Tarks!"

 _PISS OFF!_

The Assassin cursed his luck as he struggled, of course he had to fall into the must unreasonably agitated grub imaginable. He could only hope those slippery little curs didn't get too far ahead before he caught up to him.

* * *

The lift came to a stop at some type of courtyard at the top of the Tower, both Weiss and Ruby immediately took in their surroundings. It was windy, but far enough from the ground to keep clear of the sand. The Courtyard was lined with waist-high walls that seemed to serve as railing, but some portions were missing. The Courtyard looked far emptier than the rest of the Tower, what with all the makeshift stuff built everywhere. It was uncanny, almost as if everything had been cleared away.

But what demanded attention was the building hanging off the top of the Tower, covered in oppressive dark metal and solid stone. The building seemed to be rising before their eyes somehow, with the very top being nothing more than growing walls.

"Blake said Yang was at the top, right?" Weiss muttered, sighing when she recieved a nod from her partner "What are the odds she's in there?"

"Practically certain." came a voice from the building.

Both girls raised their weapons as two figures stepped forth on an outcropping from the building. Just one look and they could tell that these two weren't like the Pursuers who'd been hounding them up the Tower. Decked out in dark tattoos, they both had a very uniform look despite the difference in armor. A very drastic difference at that, the smaller one wore only dark trousers and an odd helmet while the other was basically a walking tank.

"I am Pigug the Executioner," said the Tank as he hefted a large flat blade and plunged it into the ground before him "and this is Dharg the Hell-Hawk. We are commanders of our Warchief's glorious Garrison, and fight to hold to our reputation for unshakeable loyalty and stalwart defense."

Weiss lowered Myrtenaster just a bit before raising an eyebrow "I take it that doesn't mean you see us favorably in any way?"

"You killed our Master's brother, wench!" Dharg shouted

"Because he was killing people!" Ruby countered

"That's just what Uruks do!"

"Dharg" the Executioner said his ally's name with an underlying warning, one that made the shorter of the two bite his tongue.

Pigug then turned back to the girls "Uruks are not to succumb to fondness for one another like you humans are prone to doing. But some Uruks form bonds that are not to be trifled with. Some may call this being blood-brothers, pit mates, there are a number of ways two uruks can show appreciation for one another that goes beyond fellow soldiers. And when that bond is broken by an outside force, it is only natural that revenge is sought by the remaining Uruk. Its a way of showing just how deep that bond was."

Ruby stepped forward "You don't understand-!"

"No, you don't understand!" Dharg pushed past Pigug and jabbed a finger towards the girls "Ashgarn was a rancid waste who ignored all of his generous brother's gifts, but he was still his brother! You've upset the Warchief, distracted him with this slaying! He's not been well, and its all your fault, all of you wastes of meat!"

The Executioner sighed at his fellow Uruk's outburst before glaring down at the girls once more "We are hoping that inflicting suffering upon you girls will be enough to remedy this grief he seems to be succumbing to, which is why I demand you be loud while we break your bones upon the walls of this tower."

"We don't have to fight!" Ruby tried, even as she and Weiss raised their weapons once more "Just give me my sister and we'll just leave!"

"I'm afraid she'll be dead within a few minutes." Pigug shrugged as he wrapped a hand around the handle of his broad blade "Her part in our Master's path to recovery is just as important as yours, though even I will admit his method of revenge is far more poetic than I would've liked."

At that last part, he glanced towards the building behind him. Ruby glanced up to the hole at the very top before shooting her partner a look.

Weiss caught the look in her eye, swallowing carefully before giving her a nod.

Almost immediately Ruby disappeared in a flash of rose petals which immediately sped towards the hole at high speed.

Pigug acted immediately, turning to his companion and barking "Quickly!"

Dharg crouched low, digging his fingers into his shoulders as his aura began to pulsate dangerously "Already on it."

Weiss saw the Garrison Captain up to something, and quickly ran towards the building while summoning a glyph and shouting, "Ruby!"

What neither of the girls had expected was form him to quite literally explode into a swarm of hell-hawks.

The creatures filled her sight immediately as they swarmed, sending Weiss flying back away from the building before she managed to ground herself on a glyph. She heard a struggling from above and glanced up just in time to see Ruby sail to the ground beside her.

Before she could say anything, Ruby held up a hand before pushing herself off the ground.

The largest concentration of Hell-Hawks seemed to split away from the swarm which now flew around the top of the Tower, flying in a large mash of wings and elongated necks before slamming besides Pigug and forming into Dharg.

Rising, the smaller Garrison Captain now began idly twirling a flail in his hand.

"You won't be getting through." Pigug said with a shake of his head before yanking his large blade out of the ground.

Dharg grinned and began walking forward, pausing only when the Executioner placed a heavy hand on his shoulder.

"You deal with the Heiress." the Armored Uruk said before slowly raising his blade towards the sky "My defenders and I shall deal with her red headed accomplice."

Dharg blinked within his helmet before smiling "Thanks."

The moment the Executioner's blade pointed directly upward, about half a dozen Uruks with heavy-looking shields charged from somewhere behind them and leaped off the outcropping to the courtyard.

"Just don't let them separate us!" Ruby shouted as the smaller of the captains immediately dispersed into a cloud of Hell Hawks again and dove towards them. She spun , twirling Crescent Rose before planting its curved blade into the floor and opening fire on the incoming shield-bearers. The two at the front halted and slammed the sides of their shields tightly together as they absorbed the blasts. From behind them burst another group of Hell Hawks which were too small and flighty for Ruby to sight easily in her rifle's scope.

The Hell Hawks dipped and dived past her before charging en masse at her partner. Weiss had foreseen the incoming swarm and, with the grace and nimbleness only she could put forth, slid out of the way of the ravenous horde. What she hadn't foreseen were the very last seven Hell-Hawks forming together into an arm which immediately latched onto her before she could get out of its range. With a gasp, she watched as the rest of Dharg formed out of the small creatures before he swung his flail at her with his free hand.

She was perceptive enough to get over the shock of his transformation and duck under his swing before crushing their arms together, unwilling to give him the option to attack again. As expected, the Uruk growled and tried jabbing his jagged helmet towards her. But for an Uruk, he didn't have the muscle necessary to just outright overpower her.

Ruby glanced back to the struggling duo and moved to switch her aim when one of the Shield-Bearers slid past her and swung his halberd. She ducked under the edged tip and tore Crescent Rose out of the ground before swinging it his way. Her prized weapon was, however, unable to leave more than respectable slash marks on the thick metal of his shield.

The sound of approaching footsteps encouraged the two other Shield-Bearers to defend as well. If she could just slash past those things, striking the Uruks behind them should be easy for a weapon such as hers. Putting thought into practice, she twirled Crescent Rose horizontally. The Defenders however, seemed privy to what she planned, as they slid to the sides just as her baby once again found its blade in the ground. Only this time a heavily armored boot slammed down upon Crescent Rose the instant it had touched the ground, trapping it there while the boot's owner raised his blade.

Ruby saw Pigug's incoming slash and took a quick breath before releasing her grip on crescent Rose and activating her semblance. The Executioner's massive sword cut through nothing more than several resulting rose petals as his eyes went wide within his helmet. Before he could seek her out, a blur of red slammed into his back with enough force to throw him forward.

Seeing her chance, Ruby grabbed hold of her weapon as she reformed atop it and pulled its trigger, launching her and the scythe forward. Pigug looked back at the incoming blade and moved to raise his own when one of his shield-Bearers leaped in between them and intercepted the young girl's attack before he could even worry about it.

Ruby bit back a curse as she pulled the trigger once more and sent herself sailing away from them before Pigug's other followers could start to capitalize, the Uruks already moved to follow as quickly as their heavy weapons allowed them to. Ruby was ready, backing out of the way of several halberd jabs before speeding past the Shield bearers and swiping at them from behind.

Heavy footsteps brought her attention to Pigug, who drew a red dust crystal before crushing it against his large blade. He dragged the resulting flames along his weapon as he neared, his gauntlet smoking as he wielded the blade in two hands and swung. Ruby twisted under the now-flaming broadsword, slashing at him with Crescent Rose as she kept backpedaling. She leaped back before having to speed away from the jab of another halberd, only for Pigug to crouch and leap towards her whilst bringing the flaming broadsword down.

She stepped back as his blade was embedded in the ground, quickly following his example from earlier and bringing her scythe down on him. But Pigug's hands shot from the handle of his weapon and slammed onto either side of hers before it could touch him.

Ruby found her scythe momentarily stuck in between his gauntlets, and quickly moved to pull the trigger when he tossed the blade to the side and lunged forward, driving his fist into her torso and sending her sailing back.

Ruby managed to land with only a winded stumble as the Shield-Bearers followed, the Executioner taking the time to yank his sword out of the ground before walking towards the melee again.

On the other side of the Courtyard, Weiss was just trying to land a single hit. Dharg was faster than his colleagues to a ridiculous degree, helped immensely by the fact that he could just explode into a burst of disorienting Hell-Hawks and re-position himself whenever he wanted.

Weiss had to keep all of her senses as focused as possible to properly fight him, he'd circle her while twirling his flail and making subtle movements. Then, in a sudden burst of motion, would dart towards her. Her precise movements allowed her to deflect or dodge the many speedy swipes of his flail, but he just kept moving too much to predict well. A Hell-Hawk from the surrounding swarm slammed into her back without warning, sending her flying toward him. She managed to turn her fall into a nimble slide under his swing, before spinning on her knee and swiping at him only for him to turn into Hell-Hawks and disperse again.

This was ridiculous, with that semblance of his he could just keep evading and wait for her to wear out. Weiss narrowed her eyes as she spotted him reforming out of the corner of her eye and turned to face him again.

Flail spinning, Dharg darted forth swinging and dodging through Weiss's attacks before rearing back with his free hand. Weiss darted back as his fist slammed to the ground, the chamber of Myrtenaster spinning before settling on a glowing red.

Dharg looked up just as Weiss plunged the red rapier into a glyph at her feet. He looked down to see a similar glyph forming around his fist and threw himself back just as a pillar of flame erupted from it. He growled before he bended low to dart around it when the pillar died down to reveal Weiss on another glyph.

The Garrison Captain gasped before beginning to disperse, but not before Weiss shot herself like a bullet from her glyph and stabbed at him before he could fully evade.

She landed a bit shakily, unused to speeds like that without the assistance of time dilation. It had been risky, but she had to act fast. As he reformed near the edge of the courtyard, she saw just how her efforts paid off. Weiss was stunned to see his Aura already shimmering, a bruise already forming where she'd stabbed at him. No wonder he was fighting so evasively.

Now emboldened, Weiss stood a bit taller as she pointed her rapier at him. She should have just enough tricks to wear him down.

It seemed Dharg new this too, and bit his lip in anger before reaching behind him and drawing a horn from his belt. Weiss immediately recalled what happened when she'd last seen a horn like that, during the Arena while fighting Bubol and Gundza.

Boldness fading in the face of panic, she shot towards the Uruk as fast she could. But it was already too late, Dharg gave the horn a loud blow before dispersing into Hell-Hawks yet again right before Weiss could plunge Myrtenaster into him. Instead she merely struck a single Hell-Hawk out of the air, which vanished after falling to the ground. So close to the edge, the Heiress heard the sounds of pounding footsteps and growls.

Backing away from the edge, Weiss's eyes opened wide as she saw dozens of Garrison Uruks climbing up over the side. Turning, she saw the same thing happening on all the other edges of the tower.

Ruby blasted herself away from Pigug yet again only to find her jaw dropping as she noticed quickly that they were surrounded. The Executioner glanced at the growing number of Garrison soldiers behind him before pointing his sword at her. The others quickly obliged to the silent order and charged at her, even as she began blasting as many of them as she could.

Soon Weiss and Ruby found their backs pressed together as glyphs and dust rounds chewed into the Uruks around them, the realization that more and more were still climbing their way up to join their brethren only solidifying just how truly outnumbered they were.

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

Hork grew silent, his seemingly endless tirade against the failures of his family halting as he heard something, "Seems its time."

Yang could heard it too now, the distant sound of gunfire and weapons crossing. She heard what she immediately recognized as the sound of her baby sister's precious Gun-Scythe, which almost seemed buried under the sounds of dozens of Uruk yells. Panic took hold, and she quickly returned to yanking at her restraints with renewed vigor as the sound of that battle grew more and more worrying.

So caught up in this that she didn't notice Hork approaching her until his shadow fell over her, and she looked up to see him holding a long sword over his head. She flinched as he brought it down, only for him to slice away the binds on one hand. Hork gave her a small snarl before turning and taking several steps away from her. Yang's confusion was overwritten once she heard more gunfire from outside. Quickly she tore at her remaining restraints until she fell from the board she'd been constrained to. Quickly she ran behind it towards the source of the sounds.

The room the Warchief had her in was very large, circular in shape. Across from Hork and her was a long hall which led to a pair of thick looking double doors, that was where the sounds of battle were coming from. She wasted no time in making a beeline for it, darting into the hall and rearing her fists back to break down that door if she had to.

Hork merely watched her for a moment before frowning.

Yang skidded to a stop halfway to the doors as a large fence that seemed to be made of raw stone shot out of the ground and cut her off. Another one with spikes on the bottom dropped down closer, and soon Yang was scrambling back out of the hall as more deadly implements grew from the walls and cut her off. Finally she was back in the room, and the exit sealed itself up.

"You wish to reach them?"

The Blonde Brawler's agitation at having been forced back grew as she turned to see an unimpressed Hork staring at her, "They're my friends and sister, I'll tear through these walls if I have to, damn it!"

"Unnecessary." Hork pointed upwards.

Following his finger, Yang found the odd source of light. This room was excessively tall, reaching high above the rest of the building. The very top had no ceiling and instead was just growing walls.

"Just understand that I will do everything in my power to break you in half before you have a chance of reaching it." the Warchief continued as he drew matching swords and clicked their tips together near the ground.

Yang growled, cocking Ember Celica and crouching, "I kinda like this challenge, big guy."

"Challenge? Not at all." Hork shook his head before glaring her down "This is an impossibility."

The two matched each other's heated looks for a moment before lunging towards each other, with Hork slashing Yang's restraining board out of the way as they collided. Yang swung a fist into his stomach, but he simply brought his sword down towards her. She dodged back out of range before going in for several swings.

Initially trying to use her better speed, Yang ducked and dove between his swords as she sought out every opening she could manage. But then something happened...

She dove back out of the way of another stab when Hork twisted his blade in the floor, all of a sudden a column of rock shot out of the ground and slammed into her full force. She crumpled to her feet momentarily before pushing herself back up and blasting herself forward. Her speed got her between the blades quickly, and she began unleashing a flurry of blows across Hork's front which slowly forced him back.

His Aura ate her blows like nothing, and soon Hork twisted one of his feet and anchored himself in place as Yang continued releasing as much damage as her weapons allowed. Hork dropped both of his blades, which stuck into the ground, before slamming his hands into her shoulders and pinning her arms to her sides. Yang was trapped, and could only struggle as Hork lifted her up and slammed her back-first against the ground.

Still protected by her Aura, Yang had been winded badly from the impact. As she coughed and gasped for air, Hork walked back over to his discarded blades and drew them from the ground before pointing one at her, "Do you not realize that your companions are dying out there to get to you? Do you dare insult both them and me by refusing to fight with everything you have?! This is pathetic!"

As Hork backed away and gave several practice swings of his blades, Yang's head snapped towards him with murderous intent. As her inflamed gaze locked itself to him, her hair began lighting up as heat began radiating from her.

"Hm, that's slightly better." Hork commented before Yang blasted herself at him. He ducked while swinging at her, not realizing that her real intent was to use his head as a stepping stool. Yang leaped from him towards one wall of the room and began blasting herself between them on her way up to the open ceiling above.

Hork frowned at this before tapping a sword to the ground.

Yang ran along one wall before throwing her arms behind her and letting loose with Ember Celica to gain speed, she was almost three fourths of the way there when a stone spike grew from the wall ahead and forced her to leap to another while trying to maintain her velocity. Several stone blocks grew which she had to bash her way through, and a falling rock made her leap to another wall right before the exit. Just as she was about to blast herself out of the building, something wrapped around her ankle and halted her immediately.

Gravity finally took its toll, making her fall face first until the thing holding her leg was the only thing which kept her from plummeting. She found herself face to face with Hork, who's grip on her ankle tightened as they looked at each other. He was standing on a large column of stone he'd raised from the floor below, the scene would've looked quite comical if not for everything else.

Hork merely gave her a shake of his head before dropping her, the Brawler waving her arms a bit to steady her descent. The sound of scratching rock made her glance to the side, only to find Hork spinning around the column whilst clawing a large spiral gash into it.

Yang saw the Column contort in several places, and quickly raised her fists to blast the protrusions which shot at her.

Finally she landed, catching herself quite nicely as Hork stepped from behind the massive column.

"Okay, I get it dude. Faster than ya look." Yang caught herself before she could accidentally vocalize the comparison between him and Krimp, instead adopting a stance "Doesn't mean I can't get away."

The massive Uruk's frown deepened as he raised a fist and slammed it against the base of the column beside him. Almost instantly it fractured along the claw trail he left in it and began collapsing. Yang's eyes shot up to the falling pieces of pillar before Hork's battle cry brought her gaze back to the incoming Gatekeeper.

She guarded against his first strikes before an incoming Pillar prompted the two to step back from each other as it slammed into the ground between them. Yang didn't wait, leaping atop the fallen pillar and diving towards the Warchief Fist-first. Bashing him in the shoulder, Yang barely had enough time to raise her other arm to defend from his next strike. Once she landed another pillar landed between them which she immediately blasted towards the Uruk.

Hork dropped his blades immediately before wrapping his thick arms around the incoming pillar and spinning with it, a dark aura spread across it before he swung it back at her. Yang was prepared to dive over it when spikes began sprouting from the pillar as it careened towards her, forcing her to roll to the side. The second she was standing , a shoulder slammed into her and nearly knocked her off her feet before Hork raised his sword and slashed her away.

Aura still holding, Yang grunted as she rose again. Hork promptly kneeled and dipped his swords into the ground beside him, they sunk into the solid stone as if it were a sludge-like liquid, "You and your allies will die within spitting distance of each other, separated only by the walls and forces I have created.

He stood and dragged the blades out, only now they were covered in more stone spikes, "You cannot overcome me, the murderer and your harlot teammates will be overwhelmed. There is no other option left for you."

* * *

"Blakey~ Blakey~! Where ya hiding best buddy~? Blakey~ Blakey~! Where ya hiding right now~?"

Blake kept herself glued to the edge of an intersection of halls, her ears twitching as she heard Krimp happily singing as he scraped the walls with his weapons, the sounds mixing together far more eerily than the Faunus would've liked.

He was relentless, keeping just on her trail enough to make complete escape impossible. He was just too damned quick to get passed, and his senses were ridiculous. No matter how quiet she tried to be, almost every movement seemed to alert him immediately. Even if his ears didn't catch her, he'd just start sniffing like an attack dog until he tracked her down. Blake could only hope to hide until he moved far away enough to slip by, but he was just so thorough in searching that he'd already found her twice.

"You must be crouched down somewhere uncomfortable!" the friendly fellow said as he paused and glanced down a nearby hall, "Your back must be feeling all outta sorts, how's about if you let me put ya to sleep real quick and I'll give ya a nice, comfy back rub before going to see me bro!"

Blake gave a silent curse, even when trying to beat her unconscious he sounded far too charming for his own good, it was actually starting to piss her off. She heard him begin taking several steps closer, no doubt about to find her again, but she picked up the sound of a second set of footsteps.

Krimp must've heard them too, because he paused and turned away from her, "Hn? Ratlug?"

"Ah Krimp, still hunting for the Hybrid eh?" the Tinkerer said as he approached

"Oh!" the larger Uruk seemed conflicted "We haven't talked in a bit, buddy! I really reallllyyy wish I could stop and hang out with you and the boys but I'm in quite a pickle right now and need to-!"

"Yeah yeah, real torn up about all that." Ratlug interrupted him "Say, have you seen two grubs in tattered Atlesian garb and storm colors?"

Krimp was silent for a moment before he turned to face him and tilted his head to the side "You mean those two who was with you and Pugsy?"

Blake thought for a moment, remembering the group of onlookers who had been watching in the central chamber. She had been so distracted by Krimp and Gundza that she'd almost missed the Shaman and his underlings.

"Yeah, my Researchers seem to have ran off somewhere." Ratlug groaned "I don't want those idiots messing something up while your brother's got his boot lickers up in arms up there."

"He's doing it now?!" Krimp exclaimed

"Yeah..." Ratlug said slowly before continuing "Anyway, I was just about to start checking downstairs but really, have you seen them-?"

"I have to hurry!" the friendly fellow turned and ran down another hall "Blake! Blakey come out now, I'm a tad bit late already!"

"Yeah, but have you seen them!" Ratlug called out after him, waiting several seconds for any response before grunting "Damned happy go lucky bastard."

Soon after he left to continue his search, leaving only Blake to thank everything she could think of for such a broad stroke of luck. She quickly retraced her steps, making her way back to the armory she'd initially encountered Krimp in. She remembered what he'd said, and with him still looking for her in the halls she had a clear shot.

She found the door still partially open, and slipped inside quickly before noticing that she wasn't alone.

A brawny Uruk in a blacksmith's apron was kneeling and rubbing at several gashes Krimp had put in the floor, muttering angrily as he glanced to where the horrid broadsword once lied. While he was looking, he spotted Blake and quickly made a beeline for the balcony. Blake knew she could beat him to it, the heavyset Blacksmith just couldn't push his thick legs fast enough. She was just about to speed by him when she heard what could only be a heavy gun being cocked.

She looked behind her just quickly enough to see an odd-looking barrel lock onto her before she had to throw herself out of the way as a hail of heavy rounds began spraying all over the room around her. She had to use about seven clones to keep out of the way of the bullets, each one being mulched along with the tables, walls and other pieces of furniture.

Finally the rounds stopped, and Blake was able to pause and catch her breath before looking to the balcony. The gate was down now, and on the other side was the shell-shocked blacksmith. As he looked over the now destroyed armory, he growled before clinging to the gate and turning to the source of the bullets, "You Storm bastards! You know how many orders I'm behind on now!?"

Following his look, Blake found herself confused as her picture was taken.

"You missed." the Photographer said as he lowered a scroll and slowly shut the door behind him. Kneeling in front of him was another Uruk with a cigarette in his mouth, smoke leaking from the barrel of the odd gun in his hands.

Ratlug's researchers, they really were extremely odd looking.

"Huh," the Smoker lowered the gun and looked over it "seems the spread isn't enough to counter mobility."

"Step in the right direction." the other one said as he hefted his own odd gun in one hand and reached behind his back with another "Should we see what else we can learn from this meat-sack?"

Blake rose, shifting Gambol Shroud to its pistol form as the two Researchers drew spears and began advancing. The Balcony gate wasn't like the ones out in the halls, she actually felt she could break it if she struck it enough. That meant she'd have to disable the Researchers long enough to-

Blake just barely managed to duck as a spinning kick sailed over her, almost distracting her enough to not notice the incoming spear tip.

She deflected the Photographer's attack only for him to immediately twist his wrist and wrap his weapon around her's before dragging it down. Gasping, Blake raised her cleaver-sheath only for the Smoker to do the same with his spear. Locked between them, the Faunus felt both barrels of their weapons press against her abdomen and back.

She used her semblance as quickly as she could, darting out of their hold just before her clone was ripped in half by the simultaneous rrounds.

The two Researchers turned to see the Faunus unharmed, and both grew interested yet unsatisfied expressions.

"Semblance allows for greater mobility." the Photographer said before waving his gun several times "A lighter design may be needed in future models."

"Noted." the Smoker commented with a huff before kneeling.

The Photographer immediately used him as a stepping stool before leaping off his cohort and firing at Blake as he sailed towards her.

Knowing the unreasonable firepower the weapon had, Blake lunged underneath him and swiped at his partner.

Momentarily taken aback, the Uruk took a slash across his torso before he turned with his gun firing. Blake ducked under the arc of rounds before slashing at him again, cursing as she found his aura holding under the blows. The Researcher raised a leg and kicked at her, knocking her back into the range of the Photographer.

They clashed weapons several times, the Uruk momentarily being pushed back until he twisted something on his spear and the tip was set alight with visible sparks of electricity. Blake recognized it immediately: Lightning dust. These guys were wielding spear-shaped tasers!

She crossed her blade and sheath together to hold back the electrified weapon, steeling her stance before shoving her opponent back and throwing him off balance. She darted in while he stumbled, maneuvering around arcs of bullets he fired as he struggled to catch himself. But just as she was in striking distance he dropped his spear and instead whipped his scroll from his pocket.

Blake couldn't land the hit before the bright flash of the scroll's camera left her momentarily blinded, and an unseen kick sent her rolling away.

"Close one there." she heard the Smoker laugh "Perhaps some leg braces should be in the works, eh?"

"She's dazed!" the Photographer stated with a noticeable sigh of relief "Have at her!"

Just as the world began fading back into view, Blake heard a chuckle as footsteps moved in on her. She focused on her hearing, darting back away from the sounds of incoming swings until her back hit a wall. The shape of an Uruk lunged forward and she put everything into leaping over him before immediately having to dodge out of the way of a volley of bullets that sprayed from his gun like a shotgun blast.

The Photographer slammed into her from behind and sent her fumbling into the Smoker's oncoming Kick. Even as she stumbled back, she heard the sound of crackling electricity and spun over the Photographer's spear as she fired several rounds into his back.

He stumbled, but the other Researcher helped steady him as his aura finally gave a telltale shimmer of strain, "This ain't working. Perhaps a change of tactics?"

The Smoker gave a thoughtful hum before glancing over and Blake and turning back to his winded accomplice "I have an idea."

The duo began whispering to each other, giving Blake just enough time to realize she had an opportunity. Turning away from them, she bolted towards the balcony gate. The Blacksmith gasped and immediately pressed against it right before the Faunus began laying into it with everything she had, "Oi! What are you two globs yammering about?!" shouted the brawny Blade-Maker "Get back to killing her!"

"But what about if I run out?" asked the Photographer as he placed a finger to his hand "I'd be in a much more dangerous position if-"

"Give me your spear." interrupted the other Researcher

That gave the Photographer pause, but after a second of thought he smiled "Ah, good thinking there lad."

Blake continued slicing at the surprisingly durable gate, and could finally see visible proof of it weakening when she heard movement behind her. She spun out of the way as the Smoker drove a spear into the ground, swiping at her with another in his other hand. Blake backed out of his range, taking a second to question where the bulky gun he'd been wielding went when the Uruk suddenly flattened himself against the ground. The Blacksmith, still grasping the gate, also seemed confused until he looked up and went wide-eyed.

Blake followed his gaze, finding the Photographer leveling the barrels of both guns towards her. She immediately raced to the side as twin streams of high-caliber rounds tore into the wall behind her, she tried closing the distance as she ran in a spiral around him. He angled one of the guns ahead of her and opened fire with that, forcing Blake to race towards him to keep between the streams. He raised the two guns towards her and released double volleys of shotgun blasts, which tore into a shadow clone as Blake darted over him. She landed as he spun around, and she turned to deliver a swift kick to the side of his head when the tip of a spear caught her ankle and threw her off balance as a second spear tip slammed against her stomach.

Despite her aura managing to hold, the sudden arc of electricity which coursed through her left Blake stunned long enough for the Smoker to spin and slam the blunt end of one of his spears into her head. As the Faunus caught herself, she looked up to see the Smoker drop to one knee in front of the Photographer just as he leveled the guns with her again. Seeing no other option, she began running as the hail of bullets started up again.

Watching from the balcony, the Blacksmith cheered the two Researchers on with the more pressure they placed on the Huntress-in-Training, "Yeah! Don't let the hybrid filth get even a moment to breathe! Mulch her with them dumb-lookin blaster things!" As he cheered, his grip on the gate tightened. He was practically hanging off the thing.

Blake was just about to try darting close again when the stream of gunfire finally halted, and a series of clicks rang out as the Researcher ran out of ammo. The Smoker glanced back as his ally dropped to one knee to begin reloading, then turned and rushed Blake.

But the Faunus turned her attention back to the gate, taking note of the overexcited Blacksmith still cheering from behind it before ducking under a spear. As the Researcher turned to spin kick her, he spotted her raising her pistol towards the gate and firing.

The dust round passed through the gate and slammed into the Blacksmith's shoulder, and though his weak aura managed to keep it from penetrating he was still thrown back by the impact. He panicked, hand shooting forward to keep himself from falling over. He grabbed hold of the gate, only to weigh the damaged barrier down. The gate leaned back with him until it snapped free and pinned him to the balcony.

The Smoker merely sighed, "Dimwits, everyone of 'em." before turning and jabbing at Blake. Her exit open, Blake threw herself under the spear before darting for the exit.

"Get low!" the Photographer shouted to his colleague before opening fire once more. The Smoker dropped low and Blake began zigzagging as best as she could as she sped for the balcony. She wasn't willing to give them the chance to get between her and her exit. The Blacksmith groaned beneath the broken gate, he was barely able to move it before Blake leaped onto it and pushed it against him harder.

Eyes darting frantically, she immediately spotted a nearby catwalk and leaped for it as the Smoker gave chase. The Blacksmith was only given a second of respite before the Researcher's weight pinned him beneath the gate, the Storm Member cursing under his breath as he watched the Faunus make a beeline for the roof. He crouched, prepared to leap after her when a hand grabbed his shoulder.

"Don't." grunted the Photographer as he let one of his guns dangle from its shoulder strap "She's heading straight for the Garrison Ambush."

"We might be able to catch-"

"You know we wouldn't have." the Photographer turned and began making for the Armory's exit "We have new notes to go over, let's get back to the boss before he starts throwing a hissy fit."

"What?!" grunted the Blacksmith, whom they apparently forgot about, still pinned as he was "You can't just leave her be!"

"As for you," the Photographer turned back and tossed the Smoker his gun "my condolences for being such an unfortunate victim of a crazed hybrid's desperate rampage."

That gave the Brawny Uruk pause, "Victim?"

He looked to the Smoker, who gave a roll of his eyes before angling his gun towards him and opening fire.

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

The training yard was a mess of roars, glyphs and rose petals.

Weiss and Ruby did their best to stem the flow of Uruk-Hai attackers, with both exhausting themselves doing everything in their power to keep from being overwhelmed. Weiss kept summoning glyphs, Ruby kept darting between the Orcs with Crescent Rose spinning and firing. It wasn't enough, the Uruks knew they had them outnumbered. Despite grunts of agitation and pain, many would push themselves off the floor even after their admittedly weak Auras were shattered.

Ruby and Weiss found themselves back to back as they took a moment to collect themselves, reloading their weapons and catching their breath. The downed Uruks began rising again whilst throwing insults and jeers to the young girls, egged on by their Captains. Dharg was still stumbling a bit, his aura long since shattered by a passing glance of Myrtenaster, but still he steadied himself. It was contrasted greatly by Pigug, who seemed just as fired up for battle as when they began.

Ruby had tried making it to the hole in the building several times, each time forced back by the quickly acting swarm of Hell-Hawks. But with Dharg weakened, the swarm was much less dense. If they could take him out, they should have a clear shot to Yang. But the Garrison captain was flighty, even more so without aura to protect him. His bruises did nothing to slow him down and more Uruks arrived to cover for him by the second.

The Scythe-Wielder couldn't see them wearing him down before they were overwhelmed, but maybe if she switched targets with Weiss and took a crack at it-

As she was looking over her surroundings, her keen eye spotted a commotion near one edge of the training yard. Several of the Garrison Uruks were lobbing weapons down towards something, something which retaliated with gunfire. As they stumbled back, a beacon of hope pulled herself up in the form of Blake.

The Faunus took one look at the scene before her and went pale, Ruby and Weiss were both surrounded by what looked like dozens upon dozens of black-marked uruks in armor. She immediately switched Gambol Shroud to its blade form and was prepared to help when Ruby called out to her.

"Blake!" the red-hooded girl shouted over the roars of the attackers as she pointed to the Garrison HQ "Get to Yang!"

The heads of many of the Uruks turned to the new threat, most notably Pigug who shouted "Stop her!" as Blake nodded and took off for the large building.

As a portion of the attackers split off to deal with her, Ruby and Weiss found the pressure lessened just enough to leap back into action. Crescent Rose and Myrtenaster doing their work to fling Uruks left and right as they fought to maintain their ground. Dharg slid to the side of a shield bearer and was prepared to call upon his swarm when Pigug stepped in front of him.

"Stop that Hybrid." the Executioner commanded as he crushed another dust crystal in his gauntlet and spread seething electricity along his massive blade. Dharg took one glance at the building before his eyes went wide within his helmet, the Faunus was already scaling the side and pulling herself onto a bit of scaffolding.

Blake outpaced the defenders easily, despite her tussle with both Krimp and the Researchers her speed had yet to be inhibited. She made for a ladder at the end of the walkway she was on when a clump of hell-hawks slammed against the wall next to her and formed into Dharg as he kicked off towards her. She slid back out of the way and swiped at him, but the Uruk danced out of the way of her blade as he began twirling his flail.

He heard the distant sound of a rifle firing and leaped back out of the way as a sniper round passed by, he glanced to the side to find Ruby trying to speed towards the hole again. Gritting his teeth, Dharg sent another flurry of hell-hawks to intercept her as he swung his flail towards Blake. To his shock, the Faunus lunged into the swing before sliding along his arm and raking gambol shroud along his stomach as she passed. As she pulled her blade free from his flesh, she whipped a line of his black blood onto the wall as she made her way for the ladder.

The Swarm of Hell-Hawks decreased even more, the small creatures disappearing at a rapid rate as the Faunus swung herself onto the ladder and began climbing quickly. As soon as she reached the top, she leaped for the next set of scaffolding, but the second she grabbed hold she felt something wrap around her leg. Her eyes shot down to see Dharg climbing up her legs, his stomach wound leaking profusely yet not slowing him down. With grunts of effort, Dharg hauled himself up the Faunus as he dug his nails into her. Blake tried pulling herself up, but he was weighing her down far too much. Finally, she felt his nails biting into her shoulder as one of his hands reached to take hold of her hair.

But just before he could, she activated her semblance.

Dharg was left holding a clone of the Faunus that plummeted towards the ground as the real Blake leaped atop the walkway whilst taking aim with Gambol Shroud. She fired a round which passed clean through both her doppelganger and the Uruk behind it, who slammed into the training yard floor below and went still as the hell-hawk swarm dispersed.

Though she heard Ruby yelling something to Weiss, Blake was dead set on the hole above her.

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

Yang panted as she pushed herself up off the ground, looking up to see Hork dipping his swords into the ground and dragging them out. The stone formed larger, broader blades around them, which the Warchief wielded with little effort.

"I feel... better." Hork stated as he approached "Not satisfied, but easing my way there. Ever since coming to this world, I've fallen prey to annoyance after annoyance... eating away at my patience like a sickness. This genuine relief I feel right now... while battering you around like the worthless lump of flesh you are... I'd nearly forgotten what true comfort such as this felt like."

"I'm... just so damn happy for you." Yang commented with a pained grin as she rose to her feet "Always knew I had a knack for therapy."

Hork merely gave a thoughtful hum before raising a sword.

But before he could charge her again, Blake landed atop his back and forced him into a forward stumble. Yang looked up in surprise before rushing forward as Blake leaped off the Warchief, slamming her fists into his head and sending him stumbling back. Given a brief moment of respite as the Warchief growled, Yang's head snapped back to Blake. The Faunus rose to her feet behind her, a similar look of stricken relief gracing her features.

"Blake... How did you..." Yang caught herself "Where's-?"

"Not here." the Faunus interrupted before turning her attention back to the Uruk "Can we take him?"

As Hork leveled an infuriated look at them, Yang shot her a sad smirk "Honestly, probably not."

"No..." Hork growled as his aura seeped into the floor around him "This isn't getting ruined... You're supposed to die here. All of you!"

"What does he have?"

"Eh, a bunch of columns, spikes and walls growing all over the place."

"Sounds tricky to avoid."

"More annoying than anything, really." the Brawler shrugged "Looks cool as hell though."

As if in defiance, Hork raised one foot and and slammed it down. The floor in front of him seemed to puff up before a row of columns shot out and grew quickly towards the girls, who both moved to evade. Blake leaped upon the columns and slid down them towards Hork, dodging as spikes shot out of the columns towards her. Hork crouched low before leaping towards the incoming Faunus. Blake darted past him, only for him to drop one of his swords and reach back before snatching her out of the air and flinging her away.

Hork landed atop the columns, which crumbled under his weight and dropped him to the floor just as Yang sailed at him from the side. Glancing at her, the Warchief raised a fist, causing a wall to sprout up between them and grow around Yang's fist before she could reach him. Yang grumbled as she tried to free herself, flinching as a sword pierced through the wall a bit to her left. She raised her other fist to blast the wall, but couldn't get the shot off before Hork took hold of the wall and uprooted it with her still stuck in it.

With a roar, he launched the wall and the girl stuck to it across the room. Blake took position and slashed at the wall as it sailed over her, weakening it so Yang could break free and drop to the floor before it crashed into the wall behind them.

As the black and yellow duo rushed the Warchief again, the large window at the end of the room began slowly freezing over. The cold spread across the scratched glass as the battle continued, the three participants caught up in trying to overtake each other.

Yang crashed into the ground and slid closer to the window, Blake leaped beside her. Hork prepared to continue putting pressure on them when he noticed the state that the large window was in, "What-?"

He wasn't able to finish until the now-frozen window shattered, causing both Yang and Blake to turn towards it as the shards seemed to sail over them.

"Guys!" came the familiar voice of Weiss "Get out of there! We have to move!"

Hork was stricken into silence by the sudden escape route that had been blasted into his building, the Warchief going stock still as he watched the two girls race for it immediately, "No..."

His aura was seeping off him in waves, covering the entire room as he shook his head in growing rage "NO!"

By the time Blake and Yang leaped out of the window, he had raised his head into a howl of rage as the entire room began shaking with the force of his semblance.

They landed upon the top of a series of platforms leading down the side of the tower, a single rickety set of stairs went down the length of the large platforms. Waiting for them were Weiss and Ruby, who seemed to freeze upon seeing her sister in the flesh. After being in a near panic for the past few hours, witnessing the payoff for what even she knew was a suicidal plan almost made her go numb.

Yang paused too, so convinced that she would eventually give out under Hork's onslaught that suddenly being in a position like this had her almost startled. Even so, a quick look at her other teammates led Yang to swallow down the wish to hug her sibling as tightly as possible, instead she looked amongst her team and asked, "So how're we doing this? Jump for it or-?"

"NOOOOOOO!" the roar came bellowing out of the broken window as the entire top of the tower seemed to get covered in what could only be Hork's dark aura.

"It doesn't matter as long as we do it now!" Weiss bit, catching herself and walking for the end of the platform "Those things will be on us in seconds, if we jump now and make a break for the horizon we should be able to outpace-"

A body slammed into the ground before her, causing the heiress to jump back as she was sprayed by its blood. The girls all raised their weapons as the body scrambled to its limbs.

It was Dharg

"I thought you shot him!?" Ruby called out as the broken-looking Uruk struggled to his feet.

"I-I did!" Blake replied.

Dharg seemed to have split open one of his wounds during the fall, and leaked profusely as he looked over to the girls, but he shot towards them like a bat out of hell all the same. The girls opened fire, bullets punctured and blasts seared his skin but the Uruk didn't slow, he charged right through them before slamming into Ruby and dragging her down the stairs with him to the platform below.

Blake cursed as Yang practically flew down after them, glancing up just to see more Uruks following the Captain's lead and leaping down towards them as the tower continued rumbling.

Ruby and the Uruk tumbled down the stairs before rolling onto the platform below. Dharg came out on top, immediately slamming one foot down upon Ruby's arm as the other tore a small throwing knife from his belt. Ruby raised her free arm to try and block it when Yang slammed into Dharg and sent him tumbling away.

Dharg scrambled to his feet again as the furious brawler sped towards him.

Ruby stood and took aim at him as the Uruk began ducking and dodging the Blonde's furious flurry, but she caught sight of something.

A swinging pulley with what looked like a stack of heavy wooden planks attached to it was swinging towards the platform from the side, and riding on it was Pigug.

"Yang, get back!" she shouted as her other teammates made their way down to them, the brawler paused in her assault to glance around before spotting the incoming Uruk and blasting herself back as the Planks crashed into the platforms and launched Pigug forward.

Yang brought both her gauntlets up, but the Executioner's sheer force broke through her guard before he crouched and launched into her shoulder-first, sending her tumbling back to her teammates.

Pigug jumped back to Dharg's side, glancing down to the smaller captain and taking note of his wounds "You've taken far too many hits."

"Doesn't matter," his cohort growled out through heavy breaths "my devotion is endless."

"A grand declaration!" came a new voice from behind them.

All of the combatants looked to the open sky beyond the edge of the platform, where something began lowering down to their level. Whatever it was, it seemed to be the source of that immense rumbling which had been shaking the entire structure.

A large hunk of stone began lowering into view, two curved columns stretched out from its sides and connected it to the tower. The columns slid down the stones of the tower like it was a ladder, taking the large hunk of stone which connected them down with them. Riding atop that stone was Hork, whose arms were both buried into rock beneath him.

"We will not be mocked by children!" he roared, blinking away the sweat which formed at his brow "Rally, Soldiers of Sauron! These interlopers will be slain!"

Suddenly, walls began growing from the tower around the platform, a section of stone slid out and covered the stairway.

"He's cutting off the exits!" Blake called out

Immediately, the girls charged forward to get ahead of Hork's walls, but the two Garrison Commanders were there to intercept them.

Hork frowned as he watched the girls work to get past Pigug and Dharg, realizing that his walls weren't moving fast enough he grunted with effort. Soon, spikes grew from the front of his stone.

Recognizing his goal, Yang pushed Pigug away before yelling "Scatter!"

The Girls immediately made distance between each other as Hork began firing a hail of spikes all over the platform. Even Dharg and Pigug scampered away from the girls as their master fired towards them. While Yang tried guarding against the projectiles with her gauntlets and Blake tried avoiding them using her semblance, Ruby immediately called out to her partner, "Cover me!"

Weiss was just about to follow Blake's example and speed away, but instead summoned a glyph in front of her as Ruby rolled towards it. Ruby quickly aimed Crescent Rose through the glyph as it shielded against the spikes.

"Now!"

The glyph vanished as a single round passed through it and nailed Hork right in the forehead. While nowhere near enough to pierce his hide, Hork was momentarily blinded and reeled from the blast. The second his hail of spikes ended, the girls bolted towards him and his captains.

Pigug, instead of taking a stance or readying his weapon, released a loud howl of anger. Almost immediately more Garrison soldiers began swinging down from the platform above.

With their numbers bolstered, the Captains moved to intercept the young women.

It was ridiculous to Weiss, who realized that even if they beat back this wave they'd be able to buy more than enough time for their boss to collect himself. She watched her teammates try to push through before turning her gaze to the wooden platform they stood upon.

"Yang!"

The Blonde bruiser finished blasting back two Uruks before glancing back to Weiss, who merely pointed her rapier to a glyph she'd placed on the platform above them. Grinning, Yang nodded before blasting herself to the glyph. She was locked there as the glyph began spinning faster, she cocked her gauntlets right before the glyph launched her straight through the floor.

A large, gaping hole formed where she landed, and most of the combatants found themselves tumbling to the platform below. Upon this one was a large stack of metal girders which several Uruks slammed into, one tried to rise atop the pile when a pair of high heels landed square atop the back of his head. Weiss kicked off him and darted back along the pile as Dharg crashed atop it and immediately threw himself at her.

Once Blake landed, the heavy pounding of footsteps brought her attention up to Pigug as he brought down his sword towards her. Fortunately, Ruby fired several rounds into the executioner's aura and threw him off as she landed beside Blake.

Looking up, the sniper spotted Hork regaining his senses. But the platform they were on now still ended in open air. He took note of this immediately and began making his stone platform start sliding down to their level.

"Come on," Ruby pointed to the edge of the platform "now's our chance!"

Yang and Blake nodded, but Weiss was still a bit busy with Dharg. For someone covered in bullet wounds, lacerations and scorch marks, he remained unwilling to go down. He swerved underneath several of Weiss's strikes, but the agitated heiress had had enough of his slipperiness. As he swiped at her with his knife, she spun into his range and buried Myrtenaster straight into his stomach

Dharg wheezed as the rapier passed into his body, but he dug his teeth into his lower lip before latching his free hand around Weiss's wrist and forcing her weapon deeper into him.

Weiss gasped in shock as her wrists were coated in his blood, but her eyes immediately darted to his other hand which raised his knife. It shot forward, only for a well aimed shot from Crescent Rose to collide with his hand and blast both the blade and several of his fingers away from him. Releasing a primal roar, Dharg slung his wounded hand around Weiss's back and dragged her up against him before driving his sharp helmet against her.

After the first impact, Weiss wedged her free hand up under his helmet and tore it off.

"Witness the depths of my devotion!" Dharg howled in pain before lunging forward and latching his jaws onto Weiss's shoulder.

Despite being unable to puncture her skin due to her aura, the Heiress released a scream as she felt him trying to chew right into her. The two struggled as the battle continued around them, with Weiss's teammates trying to simultaneously get to her while also taking down the Garrison soldiers who were trying to capitalize on her status. Yang was busy dealing with Pigug, and Blake was trying to manage an entire group armed with heavy shields, which left Ruby on a set course for her partner.

She'd been trying to keep track of the entire affairs of the battle, but between Hork, his minions and his semblance there were more factors than she could plan around. She knew that by the time she got Weiss free of Dharg's clutches, Hork would catch up and be back to raining down spikes upon them. She wasn't sure the first trick would work twice, and there was no way Yang and Weiss could just keep breaking through floors. For now, she prepared to activate her semblance-

-but then the tower wall near the stairs exploded.

A cloud of sand and stone obscured the platform for a solid second as something raced through the battle, its sheer size and speed sent Uruks tumbling away and forced Blake to dart to the edge. Yang and Pigug were flung away from each other as the thing barreled in between them before leaping up to Hork. The Warchief was stunned by its sudden appearance, but had the foresight to bring his forearms up to defend himself as it sailed towards him.

When nothing happened, he slowly looked up to find himself looking at the same platform with dazed and startled combatants dotting it. Many were looking up a him in surprise, except for Ruby and Pigug who both went wide eyed at what they were looking at. He realized they weren't looking at him, but at something beside him.

"Tell me ta kill 'em brother! Tell me how ya want it!"

Perched beside him on his hunk of stone was none other than Krimp, who was poised to leap back towards the platform at any second.

"We need to finish this, NOW!" Pigug shouted to his underlings before ignoring the rising blonde he'd been contesting with and darting for Weiss at the same time Ruby did.

"W-what are you-?" Hork's lower lip trembled in disbelief, the battle feeling as if it were miles away.

"I came to help ya brother, just like the old days!" the Friendly Uruk chirped as he licked his lips and drew his weapons "These is the ones who took little ashy from us, tell me how ya want 'em dead!"

Ruby slashed Crescent Rose along Dharg's back, cutting open a large gash which made the Captain cry out as his grip weakened enough for Weiss to finally force him away from her. But Pigug slammed into both of them from behind and raised his blade over the downed Heiress.

The Scythe Wielder tried to get back to her feet and interrupt him when Dharg grabbed hold of her ankle and dragged her down to the floor. She fired Crescent Rose at the Executioner in a fit of desperation, barely managing to clip his helmet and interrupt his attack long enough for Weiss to summon a glyph above her which flung the Captain into the platform above.

Pigug's weight brought him down quickly, and Weiss rolled away as he slammed against the wood just beside her.

"You shouldn't be here." Hork said slowly with a shake of his head as his breath quickened "You should've stayed far away!"

"They's beating on your boys big bro!" Krimp noted "I really could help 'em out! Besides, what brother doesn't help out his family? You always said-"

"That was a long time ago, things are different!" the Warchief barked "I have obligations!"

"Then let me help ya!"

"No! The mere sight of you is a testament of previous failures!"

"But you made me strong, taught me how to have fun the right way!"

"That isn't the Dark Lord's way, we're soldiers and yet all you want to do is commit to this act we created as stupid youths!"

Krimp's smile wavered a bit, "But you were so happy back then."

Hork stood up over his brother, his teeth gritting together as his eyes filled with hatred unheard of. Krimp stood as well, his smile weakened yet persisting as he looked at his  
sibling.

"Hapiness means nothing to the Dark Lord." the Gatekeeper stated, just barely managing to hold back the maelstrom of emotion lingering just on the precipice of his words.

"Look around brother," Krimp giggled before gesturing around them "ain't no Dark Lord in this realm. Why not be young again?"

Something broke within Hork at that wording, even Krimp could tell.

"No." Hork spoke as if pure acid was seeping up from his innards, his brother's smile dissapeared as the Warchief's hands dug into his shoulders.

"NO! NO! NO!" Hork continued repeating as he lifted his younger sibling off the ground.

Krimp saw what was coming and quickly waved one hand in front of the maddened Gatekeeper's eyes "Brother, wait a second!"

"NEVER AGAIN!" Hork bellowed before throwing his brother off the platform.

All combatants immediately darted away as Krimp's massive frame slammed into the wooden platform, which began shaking from the impact.

Pigug immediately darted away from his quarries as the entire platform began coming undone. Both the girls and Uruks immediately made efforts to get away as the entire platform caved in.

Dharg flopped onto the platform below, landing on his wounded hand and screeching before rolling over. He just barely managed to avoid being flattened by Krimp, who landed besie him with a dazed look of dejection on his face.

"Ruined it you fat bastard!" Dharg wheezed through the pain as another form landed beside him.

This one, however, kneeled down beside the wounded captain and scooped him up into one of its large arms.

"No! Put me down!" Dharg screeched through coughs and grunts as he recognized this figure as Pigug, who immediately ran for the edge of the platform and leaped off.

The Executioner reared back with his blade before halting their descent by burying his blade into the wall of the tower several dozen yards away.

Trapped in his cohort's arm, Dharg could only watch as more Uruks and the girls fell down to the platform Krimp had brought down. But then his eyes caught something else, the pile of metal girders began falling as well. They landed upon Krimp before bringing down that platform as well. Sand and stone was kicked up as the combined weight tore through each of the platforms. It was practically an avalanche of wood, stone, sand and metal which grew as it continued down the tower. Pigug and Dharg could see hints of Uruks falling along with the occasional flash of color from one of the girls before being swallowed by the cloud again.

It all culminated in the avalanche slamming into the cliff beside the Tower, some of it spilled down into the shanties below.

Inside the Tower, a smug looking Ratlug gave a whistle as he hauled his new find up some stairs. They struggled in his grasp, but he was nothing if not capable when it came to subduing the unwilling. He couldn't believe his luck, finding something like this just lying around as he did. If it was what he thought it was, then the master was sure to have some exciting way to use it. He came across it while searching for his researchers, who had decided to run off for some reason, and had almost missed it due to how agitated he was.

Thankfully, his keen ears eventually picked up on it muttering to itself in a toppled barrel. And everyone knows that if you find something interesting and nobody's around to stop you, taking it is the only encouraged option.

"Put me down, asshole!" the Faunus trapped in his arm shouted

"Oh," Ratlug sighed in a humored manner "you lost the right to complain the second you let me catch you."

"You didn't even-!"

"Of course I didn't give you a chance to run... I'm no idiot."

"If you don't put me down right now then I'll-!"

"Squirm a tad harder?" the Uruk suggested "Go ahead, feels awfully soothing having you writhing about."

At just that moment a rumbling from outside shook the tower, and he had to pause as he narrowed his eyes and looked around. The sound of falling debris hit his sensitive ears, had one of those bastards blown themselves off the side of the building?

Even further down the tower was a musket wielding Uruk who was still dragging himself up floor after floor in a bid to reach his targets.

Gundza had thrown up twice since slipping into his body, Uthug's endless waves of hatred making him physically ill the longer he had to be merged with his aura. But the Shadow persevered, unwilling to let the looter have the satisfaction of making him leave. Inside, Uthug still raged about flooding his senses with malice the likes of which was unknown to mortals.

 _Just let me go! Get out!_

"I can't... won't!" Gundza stated

 _By the Dark Lord... this stubbornness gets you nowhere!_

"Neither will yours!"

 _Dunno, putting the thick-headed bastard who refuses to release me through agonizing misery is pretty damned satisfying_

"Well-!"

Gundza was interrupted by a shaking which made him fall over, landing on his stomach and causing him to hack up some more bile.

 _What was that?_

Uthug seemed genuinely concerned about the size of that tremor as well, but the Shadow had a good idea of what it might be.

"Its them!" he wheezed before clawing his way back to his feet "Have to... catch..."

 _You want to move towards whatever the hell that was?! No!_

And as Uthug resumed struggling with renewed force, Gundza painstakingly searched for the nearest exit.

But even further down than that was Tarz's lab, which was not empty despite the Surgeon's absence. Inside Ishga Bloodstorm and one of his Blood-Hunters were searching the place.

"But if Skak's got the ol' boy in chains, why is we even looking through his things anyway?" the Blood Hunter asked as he looked some of Tarz's surgical equipment

"Because we don't have the numbers to go about executing any glob we want," Ishga answered before shaking his head "Shame as it is. No, we need some kind of evidence that whatever that bastard was up to warrants takin' his head off."

"He was gonna keep that hybrid from the rest of us, one of his dying boys told Skak that, right? And wasn't there some slave meats and grog in that buildin' o his?"

"Yes, but that would be a good lashing and the loss of a limb or two at most if we go by the Executioner's standards. Skak wants his head, and after the way those smugglers riled up the Shanty-Folk, I ain't too keen on leniency."

The underling went quiet for a moment as he snatched up some kind of journal and flipped through it "Okay, but why's it gotta be just the two of us?"

"Because, Skak's boys are clearing out the warehouse Tarz's been hiding his goods. My soldiers are getting the shanties back in order. So many of those stupid imbeciles left their posts to hunt those wenches that its remarkable the entire place didn't burn down. As eager as my Student is to wet his axe, I for one have my priorities in check."

"So why isn't you doin' this on you's own?"

"Because you are my least competent soldier, and I'd rather swallow Caragor teeth than give you any assignment where you are out of my sight."

"That ain't true!" the Underling argued before lifting the journal and flipping through its pages "Look how good I's am at readin' through this thing, lookin' up all about's the chems, and hybrid blood, and Bubol Bombs-"

Ishga snatched the journal out of his hands in an instant, shoving the hunter out of the way before skimming over the page top to bottom.

"Boss?" the red-themed follower asked as Ishga suddenly looked up from the page and looked around the room. The Bloodstorm's eyes settled on a single corner of the room before closing the book and walking over to it. Crouching down, he felt the floor for a bit before feeling something shift. With several pulls, he yanked a loose panel of flooring up and reached inside.

"What is it?" the Blood Hunter asked as he watched Ishga pull a parchment out.

The Captain looked over the parchment before frowning and looking in the opening again before shaking his head, "An outing by one of the most bitter traitors I've ever seen."

* * *

Months worth of setbacks, immensly damaged property... dozens of soldiers injured or dead... all because of four tark children.

If Pigug were more brash, he would be declaring his anger to the heavens as he looked over the massive pile of fallen resources which had once been a sturdy and convenient way of guiding large sections of metal up the tower. But truthfully he wasn't even angry enough to warrant such reaction. If anything, the pure silence with which he saw his Master radiate as he silently looked over the damage was simply too disheartening to stoke the desire for vengeance most Uruks would have after such a humiliating affair.

"Think we got him."

Turning to his left, Pigug watched two of his soldiers finished securing Dharg to a carrier. The wounded Uruk had fought throughout the battle despite getting torn up by the girls, his body now marreded with wounds from each of their weapons. A good one third of his face was now sporting a rather large patch of singed flesh, but yet he continued fighting despite losing a good number of fingers to that youngling in red.

"Why'd ya take... me out?" Dharg breathed heavily as his head turned to the Executioner "They got away."

"Hm, it would've been a shame for you to die in the collapse after all that perseverance." Pigug answered "Stalwart dedication such as yours is nowhere as common as it should be."

"I still had plenty of fight left in me!" the Devoted Uruk shouted before wincing as he looked over to his Master "If I had just been able to grab one... then maybe he..."

The larger Captain sighed "More unyielding then ever, are you?"

Even so, he couldn't help but wonder if catching one of the interlopers could possibly make up for what was lost. He gestured to the two Uruks holding the carrier to follow him before moving over to their still frozen Warchief. Hork watched as several of his soldiers scaled the large pile of ruined work, all picking through and searching for those possibly trapped within. He didn't move even as Pigug approached, the Executioner simply stood at his side as Dharg was carried over. The wounded warrior was not one to stay quiet, for the two Uruks carrying him had hardly stopped when he was already straining to speak.

"Master! This... all of this is my fault."

Hork finally moved, turning to look at Dharg with a surprised look "Yours?"

"If I had put more faith in building an aura, if I hadn't let myself be weakened so quickly then we would've overwhelmed them." the Unyielding Uruk raised his wounded hand "I've failed you... but I refuse to do so a second time."

Pigug held back any comments, merely glancing around idly as Dharg continued apologizing. He stopped when he noticed a familiar robed figure surveying the rubble several yards away, bright eyes looking over the damages with interest.

"I shall work twice as hard to make up for this folly!" Dharg shouted as he was carried away "Hear me, master! I shall not fail you again!"

Hork looked down for a moment once he and Pigug were left alone, the Warchief pressing a hand to his head before grumbling, "He's wrong."

"Sir?" the Executioner leaned forward a bit

"He's wrong... but his devotion leaves him blinded." Hork turned back to the rubble with a defeated look "I did this to myself... did this to all of you."

Pigug stayed silent, they hadn't discovered Krimp in the wreckage yet. There was still a possibility he was pinned somewhere near the bottom, yet Hork seemed convinced his younger brother had absconded during the collapse just like the girls had.

"I don't know what came over me." the Warchief continued "Just, I wasn't ready to see him at such a time. And this lack of preparation has left us with nothing to show for our stunt. No vengeance, no affirmation of power, nothing."

"We were all unprepared, sir." Pigug said as he stepped closer and patted the massive Uruk on the shoulder "We underestimated them... next time we face their kind we will have better understanding of this world."

"No," Hork interrupted him before glancing to the side "that won't be enough."

Pigug followed his gaze to the Shaman, who took note of them before turning to leave. Hork wasn't having that, and quickly called out to him, "Stormbringer!"

Pugrish halted as the Warchief jogged over, turning slightly to look up at the Gatekeeper with a curious glint in his bright eyes, "Hm?"

"I take it your boys have finished their recording?"

The Shaman pressed his fingertips together, "Indeed... we shall make haste... leave you to your... devices."

"I want more help."

Pigug looked at his master in shock, "Sir?"

"Interesting... but you do not trust me or mine." the Shaman pointed "Never did... not before."

"Things are different here, tark warriors aren't like the ones we slaughtered at the Black Gate." Pigug watched as Hork's fists tightened "As loathe as I am to admit it, your Storm seems to be prospering the most since arriving here."

Pugrish didn't deny or accept the claim, merely gestured towards the massive Uruk "And what assistance... do you request?"

"Damn it, Shaman. We both know you have access to equipment, the stuff you wanted to help us build with. I need more of it. The Tarks set us behind farther than any would wish to admit, but here I am! You can help us get on schedule, if we get attacked within the next month we're basically sitting ducks to those flying machines I hear of."

Pigug wished to step in, knowing from the contemplative mannerisms the Shaman displayed that this would not be a simple request. The Storm were notorious for looking out for their own benefits, and their leader represented that self-serving ideology to a T. It never mattered whether he aided someone or destroyed them, it always served him in the end. Back in Mordor, the only times his actions weren't centered on entertaining himself were the ones ordered by Sauron or the Dark Lord's chief minions. But here...

"You wish for me... to fix what the girls have broken..." Pugrish stayed silent for a moment before peering at the larger Uruk "But you wish for more... I see it... Another request that you burn to speak..."

Hork gave a long swallow before sighing "No getting anything past you, hm?"

"Resources are no issue... And we have workers to spare..." the Stormbringer tilted his head to the side questioningly, his robe waving slightly in the dry air "But this hesitation... speaks volumes of the possible difficulty... this next request may hold."

"Make me a spawning pit."

"Sir?!" the Executioner stepped forward, unsure whether he'd heard that corrrectly

"You were once a vat keeper! You know how its done!" Hork continued "At a rate like this, we'll need our numbers back!"

"I was discharged from that practice four weeks in... " the Shaman began before releasing a steady breath and giving a small chuckle "but I do know of its methods...And it is not something so simply done."

"But it _can_ be done!"

"Sir!" Pigug pulled Hork back "The formation of spawn pits are governed by the Dark Lord's most trusted, you yourself have stated just how much chaos unmitigated usage of that practice can cause! We don't have the leeway to just-"

"We need it!" Hork snapped at him "It burns me to suggest this, but we need to forego orders. We'll be worn down at this rate! Just think of how much faster our work can be completed if we have our endless waves of numbers!"

"The Spawn Pits...are formed by a very specific ritual, Warchief." the Shaman interrupted the two "I... may have been... looking into recreating the spell with what is available..."

"And?" the Gatekeeper asked

Pugrish merely chuckled again "It is far from impossible... But I focused my efforts elsewhere... not wanting to go against the Dark Lord's wishes..."

"If we make it back, tell any who question that I forced you to do it. Just get it done."

The Stormbringer looked up, his robe shifting just enough to reveal the sharp grin of the Uruk within.

"As you wish... so it shall be..."

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

"Skak!" Tarz shouted, struggling in his bonds "Come on, be reasonable!"

The Axe-Wielder was tired of waiting, was tired of being so close to a classic execution. He paced in front of the bound Surgeon, occasionally trying to calm down Blood-Axe as he waited for Ishga. They were in the middle of a large opening surrounded by shanties, waiting around were some of Skak's warriors. The others were still working on the mess the Smuggler warehouse had become.

"He ain't finding nothing, mate. Just untie me so I can-"

"Shhhhh." Skak walked close, pressing a finger to his lips before scoffing "Blood-Axe gets antsy when his victims are talking instead of antsy, you want me to have trouble holdin' him back?"

"Look laddie, I've been in this game far longer than you have and I know how to keep my nose clean."

Skak merely raised a finger and pointed in the direction of the smoke trails that still seeped of what remained of his warehouse.

"Okay," the Surgeon admitted "clean enough."

"I'm gonna bury my pal through that smug smirk of yours."

"So I had a little fun, ain't enough to kill one of your best Doctors."

"So I take it sabotage is your idea of fun."

Skak and Tarz looked up to see Ishga walking over with a fierce look in his eye.

"Bloodstorm, finally!" Tarz cheered as the hunter marched over "Finally come to get this meathead to-"

An unwelcome pile of metal and wires was dropped right in front of him. Ishga crossed his arms and glared down at the Surgeon, his silence being more than enough to portray just how incriminating the object at his feet was.

"Uh..."

"So." Ishga began "Bubol Bombs, eh?"

"Where... where did you-?"

"Your horrid attempt at a secret panel."

"Horrid!?" Tarz looked insulted "I spent weeks specifically modeling that damned thing, it was supposed to mold with the floor so precisely that you'd have to feel molecules to spot it."

"Maybe if your journal wasn't just lying around your lab and didn't point it out you'd have had a chance."

"But I didn't even leave my journal in the lab," Tarz insisted "I kept that in the Warehouse. How could it-"

The Surgeon paused, brain working as a memory shot to the forefront of his mind.

 _Tarz slammed the panel closed with a chuckle, rubbing his hands together as he tapped it into place "There we go, fits in there smooth as a whistle!"_

 _"A brilliant hiding place." Tumhorn said with a dejected sigh as he reclined against one of the surgeon's tables._

 _"Ya damn right it is!" the pig-faced Uruk replied before patting his chest "If only I could stop being so impressive, I'm making all of you look bad."_

 _"Indeed, sir." the Archer mumbled as he casually picked something up and opened it, only for an open palm to slam into the back of his head before he could even start reading._

 _"Careful with that, lad!" Tarz laughed as he plucked his journal out of his lackey's hand "This right here is where all the magic happens!"_

 _He waved it in Tumhorn's frowning face, the archer took a single breath before saying, "Apologies."_

 _"Its where all my brilliant plans and coordination take form, can't have fodder like you getting grabby with it, eh?"_

 _Tumhorn stared at the journal being waved in front of him, "Mhm."_

 _"Why, just think of what might happen if one of you dullards dropped something like this in the hands of... I dunno, the Garrison?" the Surgeon slapped the journal against the bodyguard's forehead with a chuckle "We'd all be ruined immediately!"_

 _The Archer was practically staring holes into the journal now, his eyes tracing its form as it impacted with him over and over,"Mmmhmmm."_

 _"All my work down the drain immediately, just wiped clean from existence."_

 _A single bead of sweat trailed down the side of Tumhorn's face, his breathing notably quickening as the journal slapped him faster and faster._

 _"Good thing I keep it all nice and hidden." Tarz finally pulled away, tucking his journal into his apron and patting it before turning "Come on lad, we got some work to do!"_

 _Tumhorn stood, "Yes sir." he said with narrow eyes before following the ugly Smuggler out._

Tarz blinked as he recalled the memory, ran it through his mind several times and analyzed it from several angles. Ishga, Skak and the other red themed Uruks looked down at him, waiting for some reaction.

Suddenly, Tarz turned away and spat out "That slimy, ungrateful sack of shrakh!"

Ishga rolled his eyes before turning to his comrade, "Skak."

"So maybe that Zog fellow passed me a recipe that Bubol had for some explosives when he and those chiefless bastards showed up," Tarz spoke quickly "so what?"

"Zog is probably getting torn apart by the Storm at this point, so we'll focus on the maggot we can actually punish." Ishga mumbled before gesturing down toward the bound Uruk "Even if consorting with the walking disease wasn't suspicious in the slightest, the fact you didn't share this recipe the moment you found it is highly questionable."

"I know how this looks, but I wanted to see if it was accurate before I went around showing it off!" Tarz said carefully, nodding to his own explanation "It would be right embarrassing if I was fed bad info and everything! I was gonna test it far away where it wouldn't hurt anybody! If anything, we should be tracking down Tumhorn! He probably used that very recipe to sabotage me! I wasn't planning on using it without-"

"We found this letter in your panel as well." Ishga raised said letter and held it in front of him before glancing down "It surely claims otherwise."

Tarz paused, "But I didn't leave any-"

"Dear whoever actually has the brain power necessary to locate this, the device now in your possession was being constructed by my hopefully former boss: Tarz the Surgeon. He intended to set off this device somewhere in the upper floors of Hork's Tower several days after the Storm left so he could frame them and cause the Warchief to begin open hostilities with the Shaman and his followers. As Tarz has bragged to me many times, this little act of subterfuge was intended to give himself and the others currently working under him more opportunity to work around the Garrison's restrictions since they'll be more focused on dealing with the Storm. He has openly mocked both the Warchiefs and their supporters in my presence, specific insults and statements will be included below. If this note was unfortunately discovered some time after he's died of some circumstance, bury this with him and feel free and to spit on his corpse for me. If I am lucky enough for this to be found and used as evidence against him, I do humbly request that this be read in front of him by the most literate Uruk available. With great thanks, Tumhorn the Unburdened."

Ishga lowered the letter with a raised eyebrow, all the Uruks in attendance going silent except for Skak. The beefy Uruk leaned over him to look at the letter, listening to his weapon for a moment before replying, "That is a _lot_ of spite in one piece o' paper, pal. Really impressive, actually."

"Anything to say for yourself?" Ishga asked a still stunned looking Tarz

The Surgeon opened his mouth several times before lowering his head for a moment, he slowly met Ishga's gaze before giving a weak smile, "Obvious slander."

"Just do it already." Ishga said to Skak, who gave a little shimmy of joy before running behind a now frantically shaking Tarz and kicking him face first to the ground.

"As for all of you." the Bloodstorm turned back to the other Uruks in attendance "I want all the globs whose names are in this journal dragged out here by their ankles if you have to."

Behind him, Skak raised his Blood Axe high.

"Hold on!" Tarz shouted as he eyed the weapon "I can get you a nice sharpener! Don't you think ya pal deserves a good tuning!? I know a guy!"

"Not all off this glob's smugglers were in the warehouse when it went up," Ishga continued "no doubt they're gonna make a break for it the second word gets around of this. Don't give them chance."

Skak's followers nodded, turning and beginning a search for the smugglers as Tarz's pleas were cut off by a descending Axe.

* * *

The Shaman walked away from the tower, having concluded his talk with Hork. He'd been anticipating a moment of revelation from the Warchief, but had not realized his luck was this his good. Even though his grin remained hidden inside his all encompassing robe, the Stormbringer was undoubtedly in high spirits as he strolled away from the structure and the cliff it was built into. An agreement had been made, and a lesson learned.

Now he merely made his way to where a Dreamer Gate was planned to open very soon. It was to be his way back to the place he and his underlings called home for the time being. He'd made the call as soon as he'd concluded his discussion with the gatekeeper, but a proper Dreamer Gate was not something that could be made with haste, at least not yet. So he took his time, enjoyed the sand and heat for all it offered as he crested a large dune and found a pleasant surprise.

Ratlug's Researchers were waiting approximately where the Gate was supposed to appear, one of them resting as the other tapped away at his scroll. On one hand it was a fine sight to see they hadn't actually deserted, though that had been a minor possibility from the get go. But now the Shaman could only hope Ratlug gave up searching the tower soon.

Or...

As the Shaman approached them, he slipped out a scroll and carefully worked the buttons which appeared. He was nowhere as skilled as Ratlug or even Ogthrak at handling these devices, but he hoped he was good enough to make a simple call.

It was a pleasant surprise to hear the Tinkerer respond immediately, "S-Sir?"

Pugrish took note of something odd, it was almost as if Ratlug was running while speaking, "Found... your boys..."

"Really! That's grand!" Ratlug breathed "They're in for a tongue lashing of the harshest degree!"

"Where...are you?"

"I was actually heading out just in time to spot ya! I found something that might go good with that little sideshow ya got Ogthrak running. I'll show ya when I get there."

The Shaman lowered the scroll with a hum of interest before coming to a stop before the researchers, "You two left... was it worth it?"

"To you, of course." the Photographer said as he continued tapping on his scroll "But for Ratlug, that's more of a gamble."

The Stormbringer merely gave a silent nod, he wasn't exactly wrong in that regard. He saw the Researcher look up, and turned around just in time to see Ratlug crest the hill, his long legs carrying him over the sand quickly as he raced down to them. He wore a large grin on his face and had something struggling under his arm, but before the Shaman could get a better look at it he noticed something behind the Tinkerer.

The Researchers noticed too, as both the Photographer and Smoker looked past their boss to give quizzical expressions at the sight behind him.

Ratlug skidded to a halt in front of them before placing a hand to his chest and breathing, he gave a brief glare to his subordinates before grinning at the Stormbringer "Now-!"

But he stopped upon seeing their faces... his entire presentation of his find halted upon the confusion he saw them look upon him with. He was about to ask what they were staring at when he noticed the clumsy footsteps approaching. He'd been so focused on catching up that he hadn't heard them.

He turned partially to look behind him when something slammed against his side, but the Uruk's stance held and he reacted on instinct by shoving the attacker away.

What landed at his feet was an uruk in a White Fang uniform, coughing and groaning.

"Uthug?!" shouted the faunus caught in his arm.

The Looter hacked up some bile as he looked up, spotting the Deer Faunus in the Tinkerer's arm and immediately growling, "You cowardly-!"

But Uthug never got to finish, as his eyes darkened and his head twitched violently before he threw himself onto all fours and began crawling past Ratlug to the Shaman.

"Assistance..." Gundza grumbled as he dragged himself closer to the Storm Ruler "Just once more! Assist me!"

The Shaman looked over him for a moment before he lowered his head in recognizance "Ah, the Shadow."

"Did you follow me?!" Ratlug shouted to the downed Uruk

"The girls, they can't escape!" the Assassin spat "I'm too close! This body, this Uruk fights with his sickening thoughts of annoyance... Slowed me, but I must reach them! Please!"

"After all the assistance my Master's given you already..." Ratlug shook his head "Truly disgusting."

"Uthug, what happened to you?!" Bebe called out to him "Look I'm sorry, it's just-!"

The Shaman turned to look at her, and despite his visage being covered, the Faunus physically shuddered at the memory "I just..."

"Silence her." Pugrish commanded

Ratlug raised an eyebrow, but gave a shrug before raising his free arm and slamming it into the back of his captive's head. She immediately went limp as the Shaman approached Gundza and kneeled beside him.

"Shadow... this search is changing you." he commented

"Listen to me!" Gundza grunted "They came here on a train... I know how they think... with this timing, they're going to leave on one as well!"

"What is... your plan?"

The Assassin paused "My-my plan?"

"Surely ya don't plan on having us stick our neck out for ya again without a plan?" Ratlug raised an eyebrow as he handed off the unconscious Faunus to one of his Researchers "We had the whole Arena angle to work with last time, but you's gotta tell us how ya plan on not fuckin' this one up."

"The Gundza I know... spoke greatly of how he needed to be the one... the one who brought Ashgarn's slayer to justice. Perhaps jumping through bodies like this has... eroded your sense of patience?"

"Just help me damn it!"

"You paid a good price for our help last time...this time, shall be my last generosity bestowed upon you."

"Sir," Ratlug kicked some sand with a scoff "surely you don't plan on aiding this wreck again? Just look at him!"

Gundza looked over to the Researcher with a pained glare.

"His rush to regain his nonexistent honor has wrung him dry! He ain't even smart enough to get out of the damn body when it turns on him anymore! He's ran himself ragged, he shouldn't even be effective as a toy anymore!"

"Just... just please..."

"I was on board for the first few times you aided this shrakh, thought it was funny watching a desperate reject drag himself across this new land in hopes of gaining favor with the one who scorned him. But I don't see any reason to entertain his delusions anymore, there's nothing to gain!"

"Actually, there could be good data."

Both Ratlug and the Shaman turned to the Photographer, who looked up from his scroll, "Not that I have any right to speak, nor do I rightfully care about whatever game you have going on with this one here, but we encountered one of the Tark girls and managed to discover plenty about our equipment in the process."

"I'm still not gonna forrgive you two for that!" Ratlug stated vehemently

"However... they make a good point." the Shaman nodded for a moment before looking down at Gundza "You say... they'll leave by train?"

Despite still being in a state of mental and physical exhaustion, Gundza managed to nod.

"This may be a good chance..." Pugrish turned to the Tinkerer "...to test one of your projects... good Doctor."

Ratlug placed a finger to his lips, tapping at it for a moment as a smile appeared "Very well, I know just the thing."

Gundza looked up at the Shaman, who gave a slow nod before meeting his eyes "We will assist."

* * *

That had been luck... pure and simple.

They all knew it, yet not one of the four girls had even spoke until they were far out of reach of the Tower. They just kept moving, from the moment they'd landed amidst the rubble of the Garrison's construction, they'd taken off like bats out of hell. Ruby and Yang had both lent Weiss a shoulder immediately after noticing the Heiress stumbling once she started moving, no doubt just barely managing to recover from Dharg's onslaught. Blake had brought up the rear, continually checking behind them with Gambol Shroud loaded and ready for any potential pursuers.

Finally, the tower disappeared from their vision as they slid down a sandy slope and were now faced with Vacuo's sandy frontier. Here the girls finally began to slow, with Weiss finally demanding a moment of rest, moreso for the winded sisters aiding her than for herself. The sand and sun hadn't been merciful, and Yang collapsed to her knees and began breathing heavily the moment the Schnee halted them.

"I didn't seen anyone following us" Blake commented as she turned to look over her team, assembled together fully for the first time in so long.

Yang released a heavy breath as the heiress carefully took a seat beside her in the sand, Weiss managed to recuperate with far more class than the brawler despite being placed in far more precarious positions during the fight. Yang glanced to the side at the white haired youth, who gave her a small smile in return despite still being winded.

"Yang..."

The Blonde turned to see her little sister looking down at her with disbelief, a hint of tears forming in her eyes.

Yang recognized the state she was in, and how she must look to the others. With how many times her aura had strained to protect her over the past few weeks, her clothing was mottled and roughened with symbols of her many close calls. The many bruises she gained during her training with Krosh had long since faded, but a few noticeable sets of teeth marks could be seen on her jacket. They were a testament of her fights with Mincemeat, along with them were a number of gashes that had been the result of numerous blades. She'd been good enough at fighting to keep her clothing from being reduced to ribbons, but it sported the signs of battle heavily. She knew she'd either die in them, or change out of them the moment that she could, but she never considered what the sight of all the physical abuse she'd gone through would do to her allies.

She instinctively went into big sister mode, cracking her biggest smile and waving off the worries which were no doubt flooding into the minds of those around her, "Took ya long enough!" she gave a weak laugh before patting herself on the chest "I was getting bored out of my mind guys..."

It partially worked, she heard Blake give a sigh of relief and saw Weiss roll her eyes. But Ruby...

Yang dropped the act, shaking her head before raising a hand to her sister "Look, I'm okay sis, really its just-"

The younger sibling practically flew at her, wrapping her arms around her as she released a heavy breath. Yang was momentarily stunned before moving on impulse, placing a hand on the younger girl's back as she released a small sob into her sister's chest.

"You're okay!" Ruby said as she nuzzled against her "You're alive and-and..!"

Weiss tilted her head at the sight, but couldn't fight the smile which grew on her own face as she watched the two. She noticed Blake standing beside the sisters, shifting uncomfortably, and stood once more.

"Come on," she said to the Faunus as she walked over "you should know how this goes by now."

Blake watched as the heiress gestured her over before stepping close to the sisters, almost immediately Yang's arm stretched around her and dragged her in. Emboldened, Blake joined the group hug as well, the four basking in the moment of re-connection for a full five seconds before Weiss finally pulled away.

"Okay, the moment has passed." the heiress said before brushing herself off and straightening her skirt "We have to keep moving."

Blake and Ruby finally pulled away as well, with the Young Leader looking up with a rejuvenated glint in her eye, "Right!" she exclaimed before turning to her teammates "If we're north from the tower then where does that leave us in relation to the nearest settlement?"

"Helstburg is six hours northeast." Blake commented "If we hurry we might even make it before sundown."

"Actually," Weiss looked over the horizon before turning back to them "we could probably catch a ride to Vale if we head Norhwest."

That made Ruby quirk an eyebrow "Weiss, I thought the nearest train was supposed to leave its station around an hour ago?" She glanced between her and Blake "You both agreed we'd have to walk to the nearest town if we didn't find Yang today."

"But we did." Weiss gestured to the now-grinning brawler "And it just so happens that that very train passes through a rocky valley to the northwest, if we hurry I'm positive we can hop aboard as it passes."

"And then we can be in Vale by tomorrow." Blake finished

"Looks like we have a destination girls!" Ruby yipped before pointing to the northwest "Onward!

"Look at you three, when did you all become travel masters?" Yang laughed as she followed "Last time we went on a trip, I remember all of us arguing on how to get there."

"Last time we went on a trip, you got yourself kidnapped by a bony pervert." Weiss couldn't help but say

"Hey," the blonde gave a disheartened pout before crossing her arms "he pulled a fast one on me! Any other day and I would've liquefied him into a disgusting little slushy."

Weiss shivered "Thank you for that oh so beautiful mental Image, Yang."

"Heh, sorry Princess. Guess my time behind bars made me forget how squeamish you can be."

"I'm not squeamish in the slightest."

"Oh good, 'cause I was just about to regale ya'll about just how filthy these guys live. I mean everything stunk like B.O. and blood, this one guy I was wailing on had lost most of his teeth, and his gums looked rotten to hell. And the guy who was training me had a dad that worked as their doctor but he sucked at his job and just kept making his patients wrap soggy, dirty towels all over their wounds. I mean, I was too good in their fighting pits to get anything permanent, but this one guy was following me around with this gaping bullet wound and-"

"Blake," Weiss gestured for the Faunus's attention "can you tell your thick-headed partner to please stop talking before I forget what having an appetite feels like?"

"Better make it quick Blake," Ruby called back with a grin "Weiss's gonna need that appetite for when we get back. Team RWBY's going on a victory binge as soon as we get back. Food stacked to the ceiling!"

* * *

 **Somewhere else...**

"-ta wake up! Uthug, please! Tell them I belong to you! Tell them they can't just do whatever they want with me!"

Gundza's eyes lolled at the sound of someone shouting at him, but he was in no position to give concern to them. He simply stayed limp as he was dragged somewhere by a pair of arms, the Researcher holding him remained stoic as he pulled the assassin and his unfortunate host along behind their master.

The Researcher to his side couldn't share in that feeling, as he had to consistently readjust his grip on the struggling faunus in his grasp. Every time he had to tighten his hold, he bit down on his cigarette in distaste, which only caused her to start up again.

"Quiet back there," Ratlug called from ahead of them, the Tinkerer not even sparing them a glance as he remained focused on the long hall ahead of them.

"Trying sir." the Smoker responded before hefting the wild Faunus up and grunting into her ear "Calm ya'self hybrid, I ain't gotta do anything to ya unless you keep making this difficult. All I need's to do is get you to Ogthrak."

"Who is that?!" Bebe asked frantically as she looked between him and his partner "What'll he do to me!?"

"Gods, do I really have to lug her sorry arse all the way there?" Smoker turned to his companion "Can't I just dump her on one of the lackeys and let him do it?"

"Ya know," Ratlug raised a finger and waved it as he chuckled "in the old days Soldiers used to call dibs on any womenfolk they found in battle. I certainly don't need her, but as long as Gundza's got a good leash on her pal there, I don't think there'd be anyone to stop ya from havin' her ya'self."

That made Bebe halt her struggled, looking up at the Tinkerer's back as she trembled "W-what do you mean-?"

"In the old days there weren't no spawn pits," the Photographer commented before narrowing his gaze at his boss "you yourself know what could happen if someone tries that kinda shrakh nowadays."

The Swordsmith shrugged with another chuckle "Just a suggestion, ya friend seems mighty intent on complaining."

The Photographer sighed before glancing to his partner "Look. just manage her for now."

"Easy for you to say," the other researcher released a small cloud of smoke before continuing "you got the easy glob to drag about. He don't look like he's even capable of moving."

"I've been thinking about that."

Smoker tilted his head to the side at that, "What?"

"This state Gundza seems to be in. After some lookin' I think I got's me a hypothesis."

"Already got one o' those." Ratlug laughed before gesturing back to the limp Shadow "This dumb bastard's semblance breaks his brain the more he uses it. We should have him jump in a few more people after today and see if he'll do tricks afterwards!"

"Close, but not exactly, sir." the Photographer hauled Gundza up a bit before shaking him a bit for emphasis "He said he's like this because this Uthug guy's been fighting back with negative emotions, right?"

"I don't understand what you guys are talking about," Bebe was lost "Uthug's right there!"

She was promptly ignored by the two Storm Uruks.

"Yeah," the Smoker nodded to his comrade "but that don't make no sense. If some petty looter can fight him back, then what was all that stuff he was doing in them other bodies?"

"See, now there was where I was stuck too. But then I thought about it specifically. See, they key here is that this glob is fighting back."

His partner narrowed his eyes "You goin' somewhere with this?"

"Look, what do ya do if you suddenly feel some unknown consciousness slipping into your own and trying to take over your body."

"Stop it."

"And how? What if you're a weak tark who doesn't even know what this new presence is?"

"Damn it, are you going somewhere with this?"

The Photographer held up a hand before patting the limp Gundza on the head "I'm just putting forth a guess that all this lad's other bodies went on the defensive, whereas the looter went on the offensive. Considering how we've seen him struggle to control those with stronger auras, this actually makes sense."

His partner still didn't seem convinced, and glanced down to the Faunus in his arms "Oi, this Uthug guy, was he a stubborn type? Aggressive, moreso than other Uruks?"

"I don't..." Bebe trailed off as she turned to the limp form of the Six-Year old asshole who'd been ridiculing her for nearly a month now "That's... not him?"

The Smoker rolled his eyes before glancing back at the other Researcher "But what about the Atlesian? If some random looter can give him this much trouble, one of them military tarks should've had him hurlin' during the arena."

"I'm still trying to figure that out myself. If he was a thinker then he'd have more than enough time to test this guy's hold on 'em. He must've pulled a bulwark defensive. Gundz here said that he started getting that Mitch fellow's memories immediately, perhaps the soldier boy tried everything to keep somethin' like that from happening?"

"Pity."

The duo looked to their boss once more, who gave a small shake of his head and sighed, "And here I thought he'd be a trump card if we could ever get him to kick his honor obsession."

"Semblance is still pretty powerful, Sir." Smoker said as they neared an adjacent hall.

Ratlug paused and turned back to them before pointing to Gundza "Anything that has a chance of leaving its user like that could hardly be called powerful, its a literal gamble!"

His underlings came to a stop before him as he groaned and jerked a thumb towards the adjacent hall.

Bebe was still staring hard at the limp Uruk when she noticed herself being taken away, mind racing back to reality as she looked around frantically "Wait... tell me what happened to him!"

"Shut up tark." Smoker grumbled as he dragged her away.

As she and the Researcher disappeared down the hall, Ratlug and his remaining underling continued on their path. The cave wall around them seemed to stretch ahead forever due to a suspicious lack of lighting, but Ratlug strode forth with his usual confidence. They made some turns, went down a set of stairs and even passed several other storms Uruks before finally emerging into a larger room.

"There it is, pal! The potential cure to your consistent failures."

Gundza mumbled something at that, head rising momentarily before falling back to its limp state.

The Photographer frowned, looking over the form of the Assassin before turning to his boss "Sir, are we really letting him fight in this state? The Master finds lots of entertainment from this one's journey, having him die when not of proper mind..."

"He wanted help, we're giving him help." Ratlug snickered before waving his subordinate's worry off "If he wants to get himself killed while we do it then who are we to interfere. Now..."

He leaned towards Gundza "Where we sending this beauty?"

Before the Photographer could offer anymore protests, Gundza grunted and raised his head before speaking "Northwest...Tower...Tracks run past." he said between heavy breaths "They'll go there."

Ratlug grinned "Still some fight in ya, eh? Marvelous!" he laughed before clapping the drained Uruk on the shoulder and turning to his lackey "Get him on top."

Gundza lowered his head again as the Photographer relented and began dragging him again. He felt his holder step onto a platform which slowly began rising as the sounds of metal clinking against metal grew. An alarm somewhere was sounded and the sounds of steam and something throbbing with power reached his ears as well. Machinery whirred and heat washed over him as he heard Uruks shouting to each other over the rising cacophony of sounds.

He couldn't quite make out the words before the platform he was on came to a stop, and the Researcher holding him hefted him up and launched him forward. He didn't fall much before landing atop something solid, his head throbbing as he struggled to push himself up.

"The handle!" he heard the Photographer shout "On your left, grab the handle or you's gonna fly off!"

The Assassin complied, his free hand locking around a metal handle just in time as the thing he was lying on began rising.

"Okay boys, open the gate!" he heard Ratlug shout seconds before the telltale sound of a Dreamer Gate reached his ears.

"We're going on a test drive!"

* * *

 **Vacuo- The Sandy Expanse**

They just had to time it right, had to get in position before it passed.

Blake pointed it out the moment she heard it, the others picking up the pace as it neared. The cargo train was fast, faster than even they had anticipated. It was much shorter than the one they'd taken to get there, meaning their jumps had to be even more precise. Worry flashed across Ruby's face for a moment as she sped for the cliff alongside her teammates, the idea that they'd have to spend more time than necessary in Vacuo flickered in her mind for a moment before she realized her feet were already leaving the ground.

Three of them landed fine, with Yang stumbling a bit when her boots hit the roof of the train. She caught herself just before she could tumble over the otherside, a hand on her shoulder helped steady her, she turned to look into the eyes of her partner. Blake gave a her a reassuring smile before being distracted by the sound of Weiss releasing a groan.

She turned to find the Heiress mid-stretch, raising both of her arms together and twisting them just enough as the wind blew her lopsided ponytail "Finally leaving this dreadful place. If Miss Glynda doesn't kill us all for up and leaving you all can expect the bath to have heavy usage for a while. All this sand is leaving my skin drying to a concerning degree."

"Are you crazy?" Yang said before gesturing to her head "My locks have been deprived of shampoo for weeks, cut me some slack!"

"We can worry about that once we're back in Vale." Ruby interjected before gesturing to the train cars "For now we should find out which one of these we can bunk in."

Yang tilted her head at that suggestion, but Blake nodded in agreement "The last train ride was... lacking."

"How so?" Yang asked before sporting a grin "Someone's weapon end up someplace unpleasant?"

Weiss shot her a dirty look, but held her tongue as Ruby grabbed her by the shoulder, "Me and Weiss will start up front, you guys start at the caboose. We'll work our way back together and report the most open car to rest in. Let's hurry girls, I want some shut eye before the hour's up!"

With that, the two sets of partners split up to go searching the train for the most comfortable car they could find.

Climbing down between the cars, Blake entered the caboose and found it surprisingly roomy. In comparison to the first train they'd taken, this one at least had enough space in the middle for one to comfortably move from one end to the other. It was a decent contender, and Yang seemed to agree.

The Blonde gave a low whistle as she squeezed past her partner and looked over the room, "Definitely better than my cell." She joked, but Blake stayed by the entrance as her grip on the door tightened.

Yang spotted something near the back, a large mattress which was wrapped up and snugly strapped down beside a large metal dresser "Hey, think we can use that? Whoever its going to won't really have to know if we catch some Z's on it or anything, right?"

She looked back to Blake, only for her smile to disappear upon seeing the worried expression on the Faunus girl's face, "Blake?"

The two stared at each other for a while, nothing but the sounds of the train speeding along its tracks and objects shifting in their restraint to fight back the tense atmosphere which suddenly began growing.

Yang blinked, the lack of words finally getting to her "Blake? What's up?"

The cat-eared youth gave a low breath before looking down, "Are you...okay?"

"What?"

Blake sighed before stepping closer and raising a hand to her, "Are you... okay?" she repeated

"Whu- Yes, Blake we went over this like-"

"I know, but... Are you sure?"

Yang frowned "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You've been with those things for several weeks Yang."

"So?" The Brawler threw some air jabs before flashing her partner a smirk "Every punch or kick they gave me is one I'll send right back at 'em full force!"

Blake shook her head and walked past the Blonde as she crossed her arms "Yang, back in the White Fang, some would spread horror stories about humans to scare younger recruits."

"And? I know Cardin and his crew used to talk trash about Faunus kids all the time, what's your point?"

"My point is that these things, the Uruks, some of the stuff I've seen them do goes beyond even those horror stories. They aren't from here Yang, they seem to make it their mission to make everything except them suffer!"

"You think I don't know that?" Yang got in her face, a scowel marring the Blonde's features as she stared down her partner "I was with them, Blake. I've seen my fair share. Had to beat up some of their own guys who they tear up for target practice, nearly starved in one of their cells with a guy who had a bullet wound in his neck. I had to fight off an armless cannibal with a bear trap for a mouth using nothing but my bare hands, Blake!"

"Then how can you say you're okay!?" the Faunus shouted

"Because I fully intend on getting back at them, eventually." Yang glanced to the side "I got a long life to live, kitten, and somewhere along the line I see my fist sinking into the faces of those bastards."

Blake's expression softened "Yang."

"I just wanna focus on reconnecting with you guys, though." the Blonde turned back to her "It feels like its been forever, Blake. I just want things to go back to how they were... at least for a-"

"-n't need me."

Blake's hand shot up, gesturing for Yang to quiet down mid sentence as the cat girl's ears twitched beneath her bow. Yang stared at her for a moment, having not caught the same words that she did. She began to question what the Faunus was suddenly so focused on, but Blake brought a finger to her partner's lips as she listened intensely. It was hard to hear anything over the loud sound of the tracks passing below, but eventually...

"He doesn't want me."

Blake drew Gambol Shroud as she turned to face the large mattress Yang had been looking at earlier, the source of the voice was behind it. Yang had heard it too, and furrowed her brows as she nodded to her partner.

"He doesn't need me."

The two girls approached the mattress with their weapons ready, the closer they got the more they could recognize the anguish in the voice.

"Brother doesn't want me."

Blake was just about to aim Gambol Shroud behind the mattress...

Suddenly the two heard what sounded like Ruby yelling from outside, only a second before the entire car shook from what felt like an explosion.

Yang went into overdrive, turning and making for the exit of the car while calling out for her sister. Blake was about to stop her, but the sound of gunfire outside made her hold her tongue and instead follow behind.

Once Yang climbed a ladder to the top of the adjacent train car, she spotted Ruby and Weiss ducking behind a piece of Ice the heiress must've raised. The younger of the two had her rifle aimed over the ice and was scanning the large sandy dunes to the left of the train, Yang rushed beside them, trying to find whatever her sister was aiming for, "What's happening?"

"We came back to tell you about a room we found, looked good." Weiss explained while glancing behind herself on the other side of the train "Something came outta nowhere and opened fire, then darted away before we could get a good look at it."

That wording made Yang give a confused look "What do you mean darted away?"

"I mean that thing was fast as he-"

Weiss was cut off as a massive figure of metal launched over a nearby dune towards them, the girls scattered as a massive omni-directional wheel flew past them and landed on the other side of the train. Yang came up with Blake at her side, the Faunus looking at the assembly of parts with wide eyes, "What is that thing?"

"Is that a Paladin?" Ruby asked as she watched the machine easily keep up with the train they were on.

"No!" Weiss said before glancing at the machine and frowning "I mean, it looks kinda... What happened to it?"

The young leader wasn't wrong in her initial assessment, the main body of the speedy machine did seem to be composed of the central chassis of the same model of Paladin that they'd fought in the past. However, it looked as if it had been gutted and reassembled into an entirely different shape. For starters, the cockpit seemed to have been gouged out and replaced with a large glass dome which was black and obscuring, but the dome was lined with the same shoulders of a paladin with all its armaments still attached. Right below the cockpit was a large industrial drill, and on the bottom edges of the body were large dark crystals which pulsed with each movement the machine made.

The real kicker was just how it was moving, the large body of the machine was suspended on this almost comical-looking single leg made of interlocking pieces of metal. The single leg was stuffed to the brim with propulsion and suspension mechanisms which culminated in an omni-directional sphere at its base.

The entire thing was covered in blue and white war paint, and looked completely ridiculous.

The train neared an extremely rocky patch of desert, large mesas and outcroppings of densely packed sandstone rose all around. To the right of the train a sandstone cliff arose, casting a shadow over the girls as the machine kept pace with the vehicle they rode upon.

But while her teammates were stunned by its odd appearance, Yang immediately recognized the colors the machine was sporting.

"The Storm?!" she exclaimed with growing panic

Just as her teammates looked at her, the oddly built mech released a honk reminiscent to that of a truck's. Immediately a figure atop of it that they hadn't noticed before slowly rose before looking around itself while holding to the top of the machine. Immediately, the head of the machine turned towards them and opened fire.

The girls dived away from a series of incoming small rockets and gunfire. Ruby was about to return fire the moment the incoming projectiles stopped, only to watch as the machine crouched and propelled itself over the train with its leg swinging at her. She immediately threw herself back, using Crescent Rose to keep from falling off the train as the machine bounced off its roof to the cliff beside them.

The mysterious rider dropped to the roof of the train as soon as the machine bounced to the cliff, it began to struggle to its feet as the machine darted out of sight again. The girls regrouped as the figure used a tightly gripped musket to push himself to a standing position.

"Uthug?" said Blake, much to her teammates' surprise, instantly recognizing Tuka's vengeful captive from earlier.

"No." came an all too familiar voice as a pair of inky eyes locked with hers.

Blake, Weiss and Ruby all raised their weapons as they recognized him.

"Gundza," Weiss grumbled "aiming for one last failure before day's end are you?"

The Uruk growled as he wiped some sweat from his brow, eyes wandering over agry faces... except for one.

Yang couldn't match the anger of her teammates, instead she levelled a confused glance between both her team and the sick and tired-looking Uruk before them, "Who?"

"Just some body-snatcher who's been hounding us since you got caught." Ruby answered before frowning "Though, I don't know why he looks so..."

"Did you bring that thing?" Weiss questioned before gesturing around them "How did you even find us? You were sailing to the bottom of an elevator shaft if memory serves right"

"I am a trained-!" Gundza paused to cough violently before wiping some saliva from his mouth and growling "Trained Asssassin, wench. If I couldn't predict your movements I wouldn't deserve my title!"

"Former title, correct?" Blake pointed out

"Enough!" Gundza shouted before his free hand shot to his stomach and clutched hard as he shook his head violently "Spending my time in this wretched body has led me to discover the true cause for your wretched evasion of all my strategies!"

"General incompetence?" Weiss suggested

"No!" Gundza shouted before raising his musket and jabbing it in Blake direction "That one!"

The Faunus blinked, "Excuse me?"

"You have consistently thrown wrench after goddamned wrench into every mechanism I've developed! I kill you, _then_ take the white one. I refuse to let you continue to get in my way!"

"Oh yeah!" Yang stepped forward "How you gonna take her down when we're here!"

"I hear that thing coming back for another run!" Weiss called out as the sound of the machine's wheel skidding along sandy ground grew.

"Right, giant Mech. That sounds about fair."

"You guys deal with the Mech." Blake said as she stepped between Gundza and them

"What?"

"He'll just distract you, if he's really after me then let me hold 'em off while you three deal with that mech."

"I ain't letting you take him on alone!" Yang stated "We just got back together!"

"I... I think I can take him." Blake looked over Gundza's stolen form "He seems... weakened somehow. I'll help you guys when I'm done."

"Blake..." Ruby began to say, but just then the Mech sped from behind a pillar of sandstone and began unloading "Just be careful!"

With that, Blake's teammates made for the train car behind her's while returning fire on the mech. The Machine whipped and swerved out of the way of their fire and released more of its own.

"You really see me as that easy?" Gundza asked as he hefted his musket

The Faunus turned back to Gundza and raised her weapon "Don't do this, look at yourself! I don't know what's wrong but you don't look like your capable of-!"

"Fool!" Gundza shouted before lurching forward "As if I wouldn't pull worth from this waste of flesh I inhabit!"

Blake readied Gambol Shroud as Gundza stumbled towards her, his movements sloppy even as he raised the Musket to strike at her.

What she wasn't ready for was for Uthug's eyes to suddenly empty of blackness and for him to grow a confused look as he tried to slow down. Behind him, Gundza pulled free of his body and kicked off from his back as he drew a spear. The Scavenger stumbled forwards towards Blake with his arms spinning, the Faunus had to leap to the side as he collapsed in front of her. She turned just in time to lean out of the way of another spear as Gundza lunged for her.

Uthug gripped his head and groaned as he stood, the clash of blades drawing his bleary-eyed gaze to Blake and the figure she was engaged with. Seeing the assassin dart around her, his face contorted with rage, "You!"

Gundza could practically feel the hatred approaching from behind as the Looter reared over him with his Musket. With a grin, the Exile launched himself backward out of Blake's range into Uthug once again. The Uruk collapsed to his knees momentarily before whipping his musket up and firing at the Faunus, who rolled out of the way before lunging at him. Gundza slipped back out of the Scavenger before using the downed grunt as a stepping stool and leaping to meet Blake head-on. He launched several throwing knives which she had to deflect, then she used her semblance just as he brought a spear down on her. The second the shadow clone dissipated, Gundza swung the blunt end of his spear to the side and struck Blake in the ankle before ducking under one of Uthug's swings and merging his free arm with the other Uruk's. The Looter gasped as the arm holding his musket went wild and found itself aimed towards the incoming Faunus.

Blake bobbed and weaved under the gunfire towards them.

Uthug struggled against the Shadow's influence, clutching his possessedd arm with his free hand and yanking it off focus, only for the taken limb to toss the musket into the air before slamming into his nose.

Gundza pulled free as the other Uruk collapsed, gripping his nose in pain. Reaching up, the Assassin snatched the musket out of the air before racing towards Blake. She slid under the stab of a spear only for him to swing back around with the musket, She leaped over that as well, only for one of his arms to lock around her feet and and spin her threw the air before launching her along the top of the train.

She managed to land on her knees, bu the moment she glanced up she was met with a flying kick which sent her stumbling back. Gundza dropped his spear as he approached, pulling out another throwing dagger as the Faunus moved to retaliate.

He ducked under her swing and slashed at her twice before she brought down the cleaver, forcing him back. She swiped at him again, only for him to slip past her attack and jabbed her with the musket before firing a round, slipping under two more swipes and kicking her bacc.

The Faunus landed beside Uthug, who rose with a groan as he shifted his nose back into place. As he stood, his musket was tossed at his feet

"So," Gundza called out to them as he drew another spear, he was panting heavily from exertion but retained his steely glare "do either of you still believe you have a chance?"

Uthug growled as he picked up his musket "Annoyances have to be dealt with... you're too much of an annoyance to let live!"

"Wait, stop!" Blake said to him before gesturing to the Assassin "He just wants to keep you enraged so he can use-"

But the Looter ignored her, charging towards the Exile again with a swing of his Musket. Gundza ducked under it and sped towards Blake as the Scavenger opened fire on the both of them.

Meanwhile, the rest of her team had a temporary lull in the gunfire as the mech darted behind more rock formations once again. Ruby crouched low and released a breath of exhaustion as she worked to reload Crescent Rose. Weiss crouched beside hery, "I can't get any good shots on it, that amalgamation is moving too fast."

"I think it looks more like a cobra." Yang commented as she kept her fists up, eyes darting around for signs of the machine.

Weiss gave her an incredulous look "What?"

"The amalga-thingie, it's just shaped and moves more like a cobra if anything."

The Heiress rolled her eyes "Whatever," the heiress rolled her eyes before turning back to her partner "how're we supposed to stop it?"

"It probably had to sacrifice tons of armoring to be able to reach those speeds." The young leader said as she loaded up her rifle "Considering how much care its putting into dodging, we just need to find a way to hit it and it should go down quickly."

Yang glanced back "Nice, but how exactly do we-Incoming!"

The Machine slipped out from between two sandy rocks and opened fire again, the girls going back to moving around its projectiles while trying everything they could to land some shots. But despite their efforts, the mech's shocking agility once again led to many of their rounds missing their mark.

As her teammates continued blasting away at it with all they had, Ruby paused upon spotting something ahead. One of the sandy rocks had a relatively large chunk jutting from its top, and given its position.

"There!" she called out to her teammates, "Take that down!"

Though Weiss gave her a questioning look, Yang immediately cocked her gauntlets and fired a double blast which brought the jutting rock tumbling down. The mech seemed to notice the sandstone boulders tumbling into its path and activated its suspension systems to leap over it. But as it was sailing over the sandstone boulders, Ruby sighted it in Crescent Rose's scope and fired. The single round impacted with the mech and made it spin dangerously as it landed. It swayed momentarily as large pieces, several of which housed the weapons it had been firing at them, fell away to the passing sands below.

"You got it!" exclaimed Yang as the Cobra Mech steadied itself "a couple more of those and-"

A loud whirring interrupted her as the drill on the machine began violently spinning, Weiss recognized the model of drill as the Cobra sped towards them.

"Don't let that touch you!" she called to the others before leaping back as the spinning drill swung towards them.

Ruby followed her partner's instructions and sped away using her semblance as the drill just barely missed her.

Yang leaped back as the drill connected with the roof of the caboose where she previously stood, the apparatus gouging a massive scar into the metal as it passed.

Weiss prepared another glyph when a gasp from the side drew her attention to Blake just as the Faunus was sent reeling from Gundza.

Blake fired at the Uruk, who halted his approach justin time to duck under Uthug's musket, Blake had to dodge the bayonet as well, leaving her open to a spear jab from the assassin.

The Heiress frowned before turning back to her teammates, "I'm going to help Blake!"

"Just be quick about it!" Yang called back before she and her sister began trading fire with the mech once more.

Blake watched Uthug stumble away from Gundza once more, catching sight of Weiss in the process.

The Looter heard the sound of approaching high-heels, and was about to turn to check on it when he was struck from behind and sent face first to the roof of the train.

"Weiss, wait!" Blake called out before being forced back by Gundza.

Weiss paused before she could bring the rapier down upon the rising Uruk, she glanced down to see Uthug glaring at her with a fire raging in his eyes, "Another damned irritation!"

He swung his musket, only for the heiress to swipe it away with her rapier. He didn't falter, his free hand shooting towards her. Weiss backed out of his range before raising Myrtenaster and spinning back towards him. Her next strike sent him back to his knees, but as Weiss approached Gundza disengaged from Blake and ran back towards them. He planted his foot on Uthug's back and leaped forward before and swinging his leg towards her. Weiss slipped underneath him as he sailed over and turned to strike him only for the downed Looter to slam the palm of his hand into the back of her leg and bringing her to a knee.

Weiss swung back, her rapier barely missing Uthug's face as his free hand clawed at her shoulder.

She was momentarily distracted by something, something odd. As Uthug scratched at her, her aura flared to defend her like usual. But as his fingers pulled away she saw trails of something connecting them to her.

He didn't seem to notice as those string-like trails broke and raced back to him, he was already rising to continue fighting. Weiss was about to rise as well when the blunt end of a spear slammed into the back of her head.

Gundza stepped past her and ducked under a musket shot as he glanced up. He looked past Uthug to see Blake approaching fast and grinned before slipping past the Scavenger's next strike and once again using him as a stepping stool.

Blake slowed to a stop to raise both Gambol Shroud and its sheathe to block Gundza's incoming kick, she steeled herself before lunging forward just as he landed and striking him with both her blade and its cleave at the same time. To her surprise, his aura shimmered with strain.

Gundza cursed under his breath, had he not recovered from their last battle? Was this a result of that annoying grunt's resistance. He darted back, a scowl forming on his face as he resisted the urge to vocalize his anger.

A roar from behind him drew his attention to Uthug, who brought down his musket only for the Shadow to leap back into him once again.

Blake slowed to a stop as she watched him struggle, the Uruk's eyes rapidly filling and emptying of blackness as the two struggled inside one body. The Faunus was about to offer some form of help when Gundza jerked his musket towards her and fired.

Blake didn't want to fight the captive, from what she'd seen of him he'd just been unfortunate during this entire encounter. But damn if he wasn't getting in her way something fierce, she'd have to incapacitate him at the very least if she hoped to end this and help her teammates.

So with resolve etched into her features, Blake dodged through his fire before slashing at him. As the Uruk skidded away from the strike, the blackness emptied from his irises and Uthug snarled as he saw Blake running towards him.

As she leaped towards him, the Scavenger acted on a sudden instinct. Raising his hand, he spread his fingers wide and roared as something took shape. Blake gasped in shock as she suddenly slammed into a solid surface, that shock formed into disbelief when she pulled away from it and saw what had sprung up between them.

A glyph.

A dark imitation of Weiss's glyph had been raised between them, only faded and black with pieces of it looking chipped and shabby in comparison to the pristine ones the Heiress would summon.

Uthug looked stunned as well, his mouth hanging ajar as his musket lowered. That was to say nothing for the very Heiress herself, who paused just before she could try sneaking up on the Uruk. She squinted her eyes, as if not fully able to comprehend what just happened before her.

Blake tried moving down from the Glyph, only for it to shatter and send her sailing onto her back.

Uthug looked down at her for a moment before looking at his hand "What the-?"

Weiss slashed him along his back, he stumbled forward as Gundza leaped out towards the downed Faunus.

Meanwhile, Yang's consistent firing finally managed to chase the dodgy Cobra into Ruby's sight yet again.

The remaining guns and launchers on the other side of the mech were blasted from the rest of the machine as it spun from the impact once again.

Ruby had emptied nearly two clips at the thing before she finally managed to hit it, the congratulations from her sister managed to bring a smile to her face until-

"You aren't slipping away!"

She glanced back just as Blake darted past her towards the caboose, following closely behind her was Gundza who in turn was followed by a still rage-minded Uthug. She was about to raise Crescent Rose to get one of the Uruks off her teammate when she suddenly recognized what she was doing.

Gundza reached out for the Faunus girl after she leaped to the caboose, fully intent on yanking her back into Uthug, but as he just barely sunk his fingers into her dark hair.

The shadow Clone faded away, revealing the grinning blonde on the other side. He tried skidding to a halt, but his momentum was far too great at that point. Yang launched herself towards him, rearing back with a fist before clothes-lining both him and Uthug in one swing. But Yang wasn't done. As the Uruks fell she clasped her hands together and spun before smashing the two of them through the roof of the caboose.

"Fetch," the blonde commented with a small smirk before looking up to the slightly winded Faunus at her side "I can't believe you remembered it."

Blake gave her tired smile and opened her lips before her eyes widened and she shouted past her partner "Ruby! Incoming!"

The Sniper had just enough time to recognize the rapidly approaching whir of the drill before she activated her semblance and sped out of the way mere milliseconds before the semi-crippled mech buried its deadly implement into the roof she previously stood upon. Ruby reappeared in a flash of rose petals, but was given no time to breath before the Cobra mech pulled back and stabbed at her again. Once more, only her insane speed kept her from being minced by the drill.

This time, however, a glyph appeared around the drill and a large block of ice formed around the front of the mech, essentially pinning it there.

Weiss had timed the activation of her trap as best she could, having to plan ahead of both the Mech and Ruby's rapid movements. But it paid off, and the Heiress released a breath of relief as she watched the Cobra struggle to free itself from her cold grasp, "Gotcha."

Yang took advantage of the machine's trapped status and immediately leaped onto its large domed cockpit before rearing back with one fist. At that very moment she heard a dreadfully familiar click come from her gauntlet just before she could fire, and found Ember Celica locked and refusing to discharge. The second it took for her to look at her unresponsive gauntlet in confusion was all she had before the cockpit suddenly flew open. She had only enough time to push back and lean her her head out of the way before the rising dome had the chance to slam into it. But as she flailed to find purchase elsewhere a foot sped out of the now open cockpit and slammed into her nose.

"Yang!" Ruby yelled out as she and the rest of their team rushed to the Brawler, who fell to the roof of the train while shaking off the sudden impact. At the same time a figure launched from inside the cockpit and landed several yards away from them with its back to them.

Yang sat up with a groan and caught sight of the figure, and immediately recognized the slightly blood-stained labcoat.

"Ratlug?!"

The Storm Doctor turned to regard all of the girls with a sigh before casting a slightly miffed look to the now-disabled machine "Even if that was merely a prototype..." he muttered before shaking his head and shrugging "Well, guess I'll just have to make the next one even better."

Ruby stepped forward and trained Crescent Rose on the Uruk "Sis, you know this guy?"

"He's just the dad of one of the assholes who had me locked up." Yang grumbled as Blake helped her up.

"I'm afraid we've already met, Youngster." Ratlug chuckled as he casually pulled a bottle of water from his coat and took a small sip before continuing "Not even a week and you forget?"

As her teammates hefted their weapons, Ruby thought back "You... were with the Shaman."

Ratlug sighed again before pulling out a folded up towel as well "Such a pity, if I had any inclination to let you live through today I'd say you'd never forget me again."

"Oh come on man," Yang bit "Not only are you outnumbered, but whatcha gonna fight us with? We broke your damn toy. You gonna' fight us with that towel or-"

"That's exactly what I plan on doing." the Swordsmith interrupted as he thoroughly soaked the towel with water.

"You know... After seeing Mulgrim waltz into my cell with a towel wrapped around his open wound, I thought I'd never find a stupider use for the things in my life." Yang looked Ratlug up and down before shaking her head in disbelief "Congratulations, I can only hope this as far as your obsession goes."

"Yang, what should we look out for?" Blake asked, somewhat disconcerted by both Ratlug's demeanor and her partner brushing off his threat.

"Guys, I was forced to hang around this guy for a while." Yang said as she turned back to them and shook her head "As far as I've seen, he's just some creepy asshole who screws with his son too much. He isn't-"

Ratlug tossed the now empty bottle off the side of the train before leaning forward a bit and launching towards them.

The others moved to warn Yang, but the pounding footsteps gave her more than enough inclination to spin around and raise an arm to defend herself just as the Uruk whipped the towel towards her. One end wrapped around her wrist and, with a shocking amount of force, he yanked her back past him before ducking under a blast of Crescent Rose and leaping over a small gap between Blake and Ruby towards Weiss. The heiress couldn't even raise Myrtenaster before he grabbed hold of her wrist and swung himself behind her like an oversized monkey.

She soon found his legs wrapping around her from behind as he dragged her to the ground with him, one of his heels was digging into her weapon arm as one of his sleeves appeared in her vision and a thin dagger slid into his awaiting palm.

Her eyes widened in surprise as he immediately brought the blade down, impacting with the girl's aura twice with blunted thuds which forced the wind out of her as he tried goring his way through her aura.

Before he could go for a third, the sight of incoming boots caused him to loosen his hold on the Heiress so he could slip back before Ruby could slash at him.

Ratlug rolled back onto his feet and watched Weiss immediately roll onto her front while her teammate continued her charge, Ratlug grinned before slipping back out of another swing of the large gun-scythe before darting forward. Ruby saw the sun reflect off his rising dagger and immediately activated her semblance, becoming a cloud of rose petals which slipped past the Uruk Doctor.

However, the second she reformed with a clear shot on him, she found the telling tug of something on her ankle. He had already turned around, and his wet towel was now wrapped tightly around the Young Huntress. She gave only a gasp of disbelief as he immediately dragged her down to him and slashed across her entire body as he spun past. At some point he'd loosened the hold of his towel, allowing him to step away as she slammed into the roof of the train with a grunt.

Smirk firmly planted on his face, Ratlug turned to regard the four girls with a flip of his blade as he slung his towel over his shoulder.

Ruby gave him a glare as she rose to her feet, her Aura still pulsing after suffering such a sudden dual attack. Blake, Weiss and Yang appeared at her sides; all of them seemed equally worn by their previous battles. Even so, they raised their weapons once more, despite the dawning realization that rest would not be coming just yet. Ruby turned her attention back to Ratlug, wondering just how much trouble the lab coat-wearing Uruk would give them.

He turned to face them fully, twirling his towel casually as he did. He took a moment to reach towards the lens-less glasses decorating his face and readjusted them oh so very slightly before rushing towards them.

The girls opened fire on him as he did, the False Doctor slashing and dodging projectiles as he closed distance.

"Scatter!" Ruby shouted

The four girls immediately made distance between each other as Ratlug quite literally leaped into the midst of them. He immediately slashed away both Myrtenaster and Gambol Shroud before spinning past Yang's fist and ramming his elbow into her cheek.

As she stumbled back, he ducked underneath a blast of Crescent Rose before whipping his towel back and coiling it around Blake's arm before she could finish her attack. She immediately pulled back out of the way of his dagger only for him to yank her back towards him. She quickly darted out of the bind, leaving behind a clone which Ratlug tossed away as he spun to intercept Ruby and Yang.

The sisters came at him simultaneously, forcing the Fake Doctor to go evasive for a moment as he continuously slipped past Yang's blows and Ruby's slashes. Eventually he folded both his arms behind his back while dodging another swing of Crescent Rose and lunged into Yang's attack before she could follow-up. His shoulder slammed into her face like a freight train, leaving her dazed just long enough for him to whip his towel back around Crescent Rose's handle just as Ruby approached once more.

With a small grunt of effort, Ratlug pulled both the Weapon and its owner off her feet and swung heraround into her sister. The two rolled dangerously close to the edge of the train as the Uruk was once again pre-occupied by their teammates.

He dodged out of the way of a sailing chunk of ice before slithering his way through a barrage from Gambol Shroud, ramming his shoulder into Blake's side as he passed and charging Weiss.

She saw him throw his dagger towards her and quickly slashed it out of the air, what she hadn't accounted for was the towel which was flung against her face while she was distracted by the blade.

Her vision obscurred, the Heiress tried distancing herslef and reaching for it simultaneously when an unseen fist collided with the side of her head.

She spun, the wet towel sliding off from the force as she tried swiping back at her attacker. He was much closer than she initially though, and caught her wrist mid swing with an amused smirk.

He quickly yanked her towards him whilst raising his leg, his free hand shot to Myrtenaster as he planted his foot on Weiss's neck and quite literally pried her and her weapon away from each other. He quickly ducked under a slash of Gambol Shroud as Blake sailed past him, she came to a stop beside the disoriented Schnee and quickly reached down.

"Weiss!" she shouted while keeping the doctor in her sight "Talk to me."

"He... he got it..." the White-Haired girl stammered while rising beside the Faunus.

Ratlug admired the rapier for a moment before glancing behind him to Ruby and Yang, finding himself surrounded by the team.

He glanced between the two sets of girls for a moment before returning his sight to the weapon in his hand "Let's learn a bit." he commented wih a grin before raising his free hand to his head.

For a brief second, the girls saw both Myrtenaster and the Doctor's head flash white for a moment. It was small, but enough to prompt the girls into action.

"Oh my, what an interesting piece." Ratlug commented before lowering Myrtenaster and spinning its chamber.

Weiss's eyes widened as she noticed her stolen weapon turn an alarming shade of glowing red and turned her attention to her teammates "Wait!"

But Ruby was already mid strike, and briefly shifted her attention to her partner as Crescent Rose collided with Myrtenaster. The resulting blast sent Ruby sailing back past her Sister, who growled as she sped up her charge.

"Marvelous!" the Uruk shouted as he spun the chamber again and darted back out of Yang's range.

She and Blake came at him from either side, both swinging at the same time. Ratlug leaned forward under Gambol Shroud before shifting out of the way of Yang's fist. As he did so, his foot came in contact with a familiar piece of cloth.

As the Blonde turned to retaliate, his leg shot up and launched that damned towel into her face. She immediately leaped back, but Ratlug was on her before she could shake the cloth off. The second it slipped away, she spotted the incoming yellow blade and felt her Aura screech while holding back the voltage of whatever Electric dust was loaded into the rapier.

She gritted her teeth and bashed the blade away, but Ratlug merely twirled past her fist as he spun the chamber yet again. By the time she turned and raised her fist, her left leg was encased in ice.

Consequentially, the ice also left her unable to dodge out of the of the following spin kick which sent her skidding along the train's roof.

Ratlug nodded his approval, raising Myrtenaster and grinning "You know, I quite like this trinket. Mayhaps I'll keep it for a time after I'm done with you."

A battle cry from his side brought his attention to an incoming Faunus, and Ratlug merely gave a chortle as he raised the rapier to intercept the twin slashes of both her blade and its sheathe. She darted past him and shifted her weapon to its pistol form and opened fire. Ratlug swiped her pesky bullets out of the air as he dashed towards her, halting only when he noticed the glowing circle forming between them.

He came to a stop right before a large icicle shot out of the circle, and he immediately glanced to the side to see Weiss kneeling beside a similar circle. With one hand pressed to its center and the other gripping a blue clip of dust, she glared at the Doctor "That's a family keepsake you bastard."

Ratlug rolled his eyes "Typical sentimental human."

Before he could turn and deal with her, he noticed movement from the side. Blake vaulted over the icicle whilst swinging a leg out. He ducked under it and raised Myrtenaster to deflect her onslaught. But amongst the sound of clashing blades was that of another glyph forming. Ratlug shifted out of the way of another icicle, Blake immediately leaped off of it to swipe at his head. Ratlug actually had to grit his teeth to deflect the swipe and the next two icicles at the same time.

But Blake was struck by a sudden idea, and quickly shifted Gambol Shroud while raising its sheath.

Ratlug turned in time to deflect a shot, but was momentarily distracted as Blake threw her weapon. It embedded itself into the top of one of the icicles as Blake rushed him with the sheath.

Ratlug deflected the first swipe, but when he turned to intercept the followup Blake yanked Gambol Shroud towards him with the entire top half of the icicle still stuck to it. With the Faunus coming from one direction and the Icicle from another, Ratlug sighed to himself. With a swipe of Myrtenaster the Icicle was smashed, but the Doctor had to raise his arm to intercept the cleaver-like sheath.

Seeing his Aura shimmer slightly from the strike, Blake was emboldened. She pulled on Gambol's ribbon and sent the pistol blade spinning towards Ratlug again. He caught sight of the projectile and ducked under it, but a quick pull of the ribbon sent the whip-like gambol shroud sailing back at him.

Blake readied the Sheath, but found that she sorely underestimated the Uruk's hearing. He spun underneath Gambol shroud yet again, only this time he brought up Myrtnaster with its chamber already spinning. Blake raised the sheath to intercept, but the Rapier's thin tip slipped right past her guard before delivering a devastating amount of electricity to her Aura.

As he drew the rapier back to strike again, Blake tried shifted her weapon back to its blade form and crossed it with the sheath to defend. But instead of a thrust, Myrtenaster's blade glowed red as the False Doctor swiped at her and blasted her guard wide open. His foot sank into her stomach before she could try and move; and while she stumbled back, he was already lunging towards her once more.

Another icicle sprout up in between them, but this time Ratlug simply smashed it out of his way with another swipe of his stolen weapon before driving his shoulder into the dazed Faunus. The shadow clone fell apart at his touch as the Real Blake tried to desperately distance herself from his onslaught.

He pouted before moving to close the distance with another thrust when a pair of high-heels collided with his arm mid attack. Weiss used his moment of surprise to cling to his arm and grab hold of Myrtenaster before trying to yank it out of the Uruk's hand.

His grip was iron, and the Uruk grinned as he reached with his other hand towards the Heiress when he noted the now half empty clip of dust still clutched in her grasp. At once three glyphs seemed to appear around him and began releasing the sharp icicles within.

Ratlug found himself sighing once more before relaxing his grasp and allowing Weiss to leap away. He jumped back as the three icicles collided together, forming one larger icicle which Weiss landed upon as she smirked towards her weapon before aiming it down at the Doctor.

He merely folded his arms and gave her an expectant look.

Weiss blinked before looking closer at her rapier, only to find that the trigger had been torn off. Her eyes went back to Ratlug, who waved the missing piece of metal in his fingers for a bit before shrugging "Pity to break a family heirloom, eh pink-skin?"

While Weiss fumed, Blake acted. Seeing their quarry weaponless prompted her to leap at him while his back was turned.

However, he turned and swung a dagger out of his labcoat to intercept it. As she skidded along the roof of the train, Ratlug lunged forth to grab her before she could catch her footing, but a pair of hands shot out from the side of his vision and grabbed hold of his outreaching arm.

He glanced to the side and locked eyes with Yang as her grip tightened. Despite her hold remaining unfaltering, he merely gave her a humored smile. With a legitimate growl rising in the back of her throat, Yang yanked the doctor off his feet and sent him sailing back towards her sister, who was waiting weapon-raised.

Ruby pulled the trigger as she swung towards the incoming Uruk, who twisted in the air before skidding along the side of Crescent Rose as it pass under him. His free hand snatched hold of the top of he Scythe, and Ruby felt the giant weapon jerk as his weight pulled it upright. She steeled her grip before looking up at Ratlug, who was hanging from the top of her weapon by his hands.

With a gleaming smile, he raised both of his legs before catching sight of something behind the young girl and throwing himself back away from her. Ruby immediately backed up too as Yang sailed past her towards Ratlug.

The Tinkerer, however, wasn't even looking at her. Instead, he looked past them towards the Heiress, who was obviously conversing with the shaken faunus behind her despite keeping her eyes locked on the Uruk. She was trying to force the chamber of her weapon to spin, which proved more of a tricky task with the trigger gouged out of it.

Ratlug smiled as he drank in the sight of how unsteady they were, the best way to break a chain was to target its weakest links after all.

He sank underneath Yang's attack and charged Ruby as the Blonde vocalized her annoyance at just how slippery he was with an appropriate "Get the fuck back here!"

He clashed with the younger sibling several times before she spotted his free hand lunging towards Crescent Rose's handle and immediately blasted herself away from him. She spun away before planting her scythe in the the roof of the train and slowing to a stop. As she turned to spot him, she just barely caught the sight of an incoming boot before Ratlug landed on her shoulder and launched himself towards the other half of her team.

Weiss flinched as the Uruk landed and darted towards her, briefly glancing down at her malfunctioning Rapier before furrowing her brow and turning to Blake. The Faunus met her gaze before swallowing and shifting Gambol Shroud to its pistol form.

As to be expected, he quite literally carved through the incoming bullets before blocking against the following slash as Weiss leaped past him. He turned to reciprocate when she slid out of the way as Yang barreled past her. Her fist was soon caught in his grasp before he yanked her up and over himself, slamming her against the roof of the train. He moved to bring his foot down upon her when Blake followed Weiss's example and swiped at his leg as it fell.

Ratlug caught himself before the swipe could throw him off, but frowned when Yang reached up and slammed her other fist into the back of his leg and brought him to a knee.

The Monochrome Duo came at him together, prompting the false doctor to drop his knife. His hands slid past the oncoming weapons with the speed of a cobra before locking around both of their arms, his leg locking around Yang's fist at the same time.

With a grunt of effort, Ratlug pushed himself up on his one free leg before taking a deep breath and spinning with all three girls trapped in his limbs. He did three full rotations before unclenching and sending the three flying away from him. Blake was sent towards one end of the train while Yang slid to a stop right in front of her openly gob-smacked little sister.

Weiss was sent flying off the train, but quickly caught herself with a glyph before leaping to her partner's side "Ruby," she said quickly before reaching up and wiping some sweat from her brow "we may be in need of one of those insane plans of yours."

Ruby glanced to her, the creeping sense of worry before slowly blossoming into a ful blown panic as she saw the state her team was in compared to the barely phased engineer currently retrieving his dagger.

Weapon back in hand, Ratlug watched Yang push herself back to her feet and glare at him before realizing his position and turning around to spot Blake rising as well.

They'd let him single one of them out.

Ratlug charged Blake relentlessly despite the telltale sounds of the rest of her team following behind. With her semblance, Ruby caught up to him first and once again brought her Scythe down towards his back. He veered to the side and swung his leg back, slamming his heel into the weapon and throwing her off balance before returning his sights on Blake.

Just as she prepared to open fire again, he threw his dagger towards her, and she diverted attention to blocking the blade and sending it bouncing off her weapon into the air.

But it was that very second of defense that reinforced Ratlug's thoughts, as for just a split second he saw her Aura shimmer as a telltale sign of straining.

He heard another one of Weiss's glyphs activate, and a plan constructed itself solidly in his mind after catching sight of the dagger falling down towards the roof of the train again.

He turned around and spread his arms wide as the Schnee rocketed from her glyph towards him blade-first. Ratlug gave a small little jump right before Myrtenaster's tip slammed into him. Blunted by his aura, the attack merely sent the Uruk sailing away from her...

...directly towards Blake.

She immediately tried backpedaling while firing upon him, but he simply spun in the air and grabbed onto his falling blade whilst letting his Aura handle the barrage.

She wouldn't be able to get out of his range in time, and tried activating her semblance as he raised the dagger in both hands.

The blade came crashing down on her weakened aura before plunging straight through both it and her right arm.

Blake's eyes went wide as she felt it sink in to the hilt, and she bit her lip hard as the urge to scream was overcome by a surge of adrenaline. Despite the wound, she fought to move the weapon still in her hand towards Ratlug. The false doctor merely twisted his blade before yanking her arm to the side and causing the resulting bullet to fire harmlessly into the sand wall beside the train.

His free hand shot forth and grabbed hold of her head, taking a hold of her t hair before sending his foot directly into her leg.

The feeling of her bones caving under the force was what forced the scream out of her, but she could barely vocalize it before his skull slammed into her face and she nearly blacked out.

Satisfied with her barely conscious state, Ratlug yanked out his dagger and tossed Blake to the roof of the train. Her weapon tumbled out of her grasp and disappeared off the back of the train car, but he paid it no mind as he turned to face the three other little girls he'd break.

Despite the crumpled state of their teammate, Ruby and Weiss fought against the rising panic as they continued to press towards him. But both of them had to shift to the side as an infuriated Yang raced past them, eyes red and body aflame.

"You mad I dealt with ya little friend?" he taunted as he raised the reddened dagger to his mouth "Ya know the blood of these hybrid folk always interest me since there's always just a hint of that beast flavor in'em."

He stuck out his tongue and slurped at Blake's blood for a second before shivering "But it riles me up just the same as tark blood I tell's ya. Kick-starts the blood-thirst."

He cackled a bit before twitching at the flavors and wiping some of the red substance from his lips with his free hand, smearing some of it on his mouth in the process. He kept his eyes locked on the incoming girls as he lapped at his palms and crouched low.

"More!" He moaned as he let the flavor settle upon his taste buds "I need's to taste more of what's in ya!"

Yang reared back before blasting herself towards the writhing Uruk, flaming fist sailing forward.

Ratlug paused in his ecstatic twisting just enough for an eye to fall upon the incoming huntress.

And then he launched forward and clotheslined her in what seemed like the blink of an eye.

Both Ruby and Weiss skidded to a halt once Ratlug landed and rushed them "More deliciousness damn you!"

Ruby managed to raise Crescent Rose to block just as he swiped at her, not expecting him to hook the back of his dagger around the handle of her weapon so he could drag his palm into the underside of her chin. She felt herself being lifted up before she collided with the roof of the train.

Ratlug pulled back out of the way of a stab from Myrtenaster before lunging towards the attacking heiress, only for the walking inferno that was Yang Xiao Long to push past Weiss whilst sending her burning fist towards the incoming Doctor-

-who caught it in his grasp immediately.

Yang's eyes went wide as she looked towards his hand, watching his Aura shimmer as it held back the heat of her semblance. Ratlug seemed unconcerned with that, as he raised his dagger and said "Bleed a bit for me, Lady."

Like a flash of lightning the blade sped across her aura twice before she managed to catch sight of it long enough for her to lunge forth with her free hand and grab hold of his wrist.

The Uruk cooed as Yang tried to hold his arms at bay, but he quickly crouched down before ramming his skull into her stomach and charging forward with her dangling from his head. It culminated in him leaping forward and slamming on top of her, but Yang wormed her leg in between them and sent him sailing over her.

Weiss watched her enraged teammate continue to try pressuring their quarry, disbelief marring her features as Ruby approached from behind "He's- he's just getting faster. We-we need to get him off the train. We have to get rid of him before he wears us down!"

She glanced back to Ruby, hoping that her Partner had even the tiniest idea of how they were going to put her suggestion into action. Unfortunately, it seemed Ruby seemed at a loss for words, her eyes glued to the Uruk as he slid through Yang's barrage cackling and cooing the entire time.

Weiss grimaced at the lack of response before stilling her breath and moving to back up the blonde. She was stopped, however, by a hand grabbing her wrist.

"I-i think I might have an idea."

Despite their situation, hearing those words brought a genuine smile to Weiss's face.

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

Blake opened her eyes to find the sky above her, had she blacked out?

She tried turning onto her side, only to wince when she put weight on her left side.

Broken leg and an arm with a gaping laceration on it, that dagger had passed clean through. She should be thankful that it hadn't cleaved her bones on its way through, given the amount of force he must'ce stabbed her with.

Blake knew how to fight through the pain, knew how to bite her tongue and focus on using what limbs weren't damaged to lean up. Her head began aching as she reoriented herself, she was almost surprised that headbutt hadn't broken her nose.

Looking up, she spotted the rest of her team trying desperately to overpower Ratlug, who seemed to be moving even faster than before.

Blake's brow furrowed, torn between her desire to help in some way and the blatant realization that she was in no way capable of it.

With the broken leg alone Ratlug would have no trouble stepping on her neck, the stab wound and aching head were just icing on that cake.

No her best bet would be to get out of their way, hopefully get something around that arm before she started noticing the blood loss.

The obvious option would be her ribbon, at least until she found something else. Her eyes turned to the ribbon clutched in her hand before realizing that she'd dropped Gambol Shroud.

Rolling over, she followed the ribbon until seeing it dip off the back of the train car into the space between it and the caboose. She tugged on it, initially reassured by the familiar resistance she felt. It hadn't been lost.

She pulled on it whilst dragging herself to the edge, she could wrap herself up before trying to think of a way to help.

The feeling of her leg dragging behind her made her sick, but she'd push that feeling down as well.

Then she felt it snag on something, and grimaced as she strained to pull harder. Had it gotten snagged on the ladder?

No... something far worse.

Her confusion was replaced with immediate terror once a bruised hand appeared from the back of the train car, followed by another with Gambol Shroud clutched in it.

Before her eyes a ragged and exhausted-looking Gundza hauled himself up before pausing as he spotted the wounded faunus before him.

His ragged breathing grew harsher as his glare dug into her, but the clashing of metal on metal drew his gaze to the vicious three on one battle occurring further away.

"No..." Gundza wheezed before growling and raising the pistol-blade "She's...mine!"

Seeing him take aim, Blake immediately wrapped more of the ribbon around her hand and rolled onto her back to more properly ground herself before yanking hard on it. Gundza's shot went wide, the tug had nearly dragged the weakened Uruk off the ladder.

His other hand dug into the train as his glare returned to the Faunus once more, along with the barrel of Gambol Shroud.

Blake's breathing increased, even if it was just one round... without her Aura...

She tugged hard a second time, the bullet now skimming along the metal roof right beside her as Gundza tried to fight against her force and line up a shot.

"Why!?" He grunted as he fired again, this time the bullet just barely skimmed along her already broken leg "Why can't you just... die!?"

Blake ignored the immense pain emanating from each of her wounds, all her effort was centered on driving his aim as far off as possible.

"Stop it!" he growled as yet another bullet missed its mark, his eyes twitching from the growing malice which rose from the stoked furnace that was his insides "Just stop it!"

A round managed to carve a large gash along the side of her head, but still the Faunus's grip held true.

"JUST STOP!" Gundza roared as he leaned back, releasing his grip on the rail as he steadied himself using only his legs and gripped Gambol Shroud between both hands.

Mind racing as she watched the barrel center on her, Blake acted quickly as his finger began to depress.

With as much strength as she could muster, she yanked him towards her as hard as she could. Without his arm on the ladder to keep him stationary, Gundza was pulled forth quickly, his face smacking loudly against the metal roof of the train as the gun in his hands discharged a bullet which tore the top half of Blake's left cat-ear clean off.

The Faunus bit her tongue so hard she tasted blood, the accumulation of pain slowly eroding her endurance down to nothing.

But it had been enough.

Gundza leaned back from the train car, several teeth having been shattered from the impact and were now falling from his now-open mouth as a dazed expression marred his features. His eyes looked glassy and unfocused, and his arms lowered as he fell back from the ladder and cracked the back of his head on the caboose behind him. He fell between the two train cars, but Blake refused to let her rapidly beating heart calm until she pulled her ribbon and saw her weapon being dragged back to her with no resistance.

She released several shaky breaths as the adrenaline began fading, but the memory of her original intentions resurfaced. With several grunts of effort tinged with pain, the Faunus turned back around only to find the situation having devolved greatly.

Ruby was busy helping Weiss to her feet as Yang desperately struggled to hold back Ratlug's onslaught, at some point the Doctor had picked up his towel once again and was whipping it towards the brawler with clear intent of restricting one of her limbs again.

Yang played cautiously, doing her best to avoid as many of the rapid attacks as possible, but she was getting slower. Her semblance was just unable to keep her going for this long, and as it faded only the exhaustion of keeping up with the Tinkerer's offensive remained.

Blake gritted her teeth, raising Gambol Shroud and pointing it towards the Uruk. Unwilling to let her ragged breathing throw off her aim, Blake closed one eye and held her breath.

Finally, she found the perfect opportunity.

Yang crossed her arms just as the dagger sped towards her again, the strike managing to break her guard but the rebound sent Ratlug's blade wide as the Blonde stumbled away from him. Seeing an opening, he whipped his towel towards her as she flailed, leaving him open for just the precise shot to

Gambol Shroud clicked empty.

Blake blinked, eyeing her weapon with stark disbelief etched into her wounded features.

The towel found its target, tying around Yang's wrist and dragging her towards the Fake Doctor as he whipped his dagger to meet her. Yang thought quickly, raising her free gauntlet between them to intercept it, but the blade merely slipped around her wrist before dragging along her already struggling Aura. But he didn't stop there, and before Yang could try and break from the Towel's hold she was dragged back towards him as the very tip of his dagger sped towards her eye.

She blocked again, but this time the blade broke through her aura and sank into her gauntlet, just barely passing by her arm. Before she could yank back, Ratlug tore his blade sideways out of the Gauntlet, spraying bits and pieces of it across her face while the blade dug into the bridge of her nose as it passed. Yang had no time to reel back before he swung again. With her gauntlet damaged and the cloth still dragging her towards him, her hand instead shot forward to catch his wrist. But Ratlug immediately yanked his arm back out of her grasp, slashing his blade into the meat of her hand in the process.

His grip on the cloth loosened, and for a split second Yang prepared to blast herself out of his range with her remaining gauntlet when his foot shot up and slammed into her face with enough power to break her nose instantly. But he didn't stop, before she even finished lurching from the impact he slammed his foot into her face a second time. He cackled as he raised his leg and slammed it onto her shoulder, dropping the brawler to her knees before slamming his foot into her unguarded face several more times. Each time her dazed form reeled away, the cloth just dragged her back for more punishment until finally he steadied her with his heel.

With a disapproving tilt of his head, Ratlug sighed before finally letting go of the towel "If you could possibly bleed a bit more for me, Lady? That would be grand."

With that, he spun around and slammed his entire foreleg into the side of her head and sent her rolling to the edge of the train car in a heap. He took a moment to look at the trail of blood she left in her wake, nodding as he crouched down to have a taste "Much better."

But before he could have himself a sample of the crimson sweetness, he heard a shout of "Now!" before turning his head to an incoming red blur.

He wasted no time in sporting another grin and tightening his grip on his dagger, standing tall before rushing to meet the unfortunate soon-to-be pile of entrails head-on. But as Ruby formed with her scythe already swinging towards the mad doctor full-force, he noticed a subtle little something forming in the corner of his eye.

Another glyph, smaller than the others but already forming yet another icicle courtesy of the Schnee no doubt. If Ratlug wasn't already in the process of dodging this poor attempt at a coordinated affair he would've shaken his head in humored pity for the worthless girls.

He spun sideways past both the icicle and Crescent Rose, his nimble limbs already stretching to catch himself when he realized the extended feature of the dual attack. Ruby continued spinning with her scythe, landing against the icicle and using her new stepping stool to continue swinging back towards the still airborne Uruk.

Intelligent as he was, Ratlug recognized the tactic as a somewhat modified version of the very play the young red wench used against his machine. He conceded that he hadn't anticipated that level of forethought from such consistently disappointing creatures, and crossed his arms to intercept the strike.

Ruby swiped him out of the air, sending the Uruk sailing towards his mech which was still trapped by the ice. Ratlug landed on his feet inside of the cockpit, already preparing to leap back out when he noticed another glyph already formed around the ice holding his mech. The second he was inside, Weiss had already activated the glyph, which exploded and sent the partially demolished machine spinning away from the train on its single leg.

"That thing still works?!" Weiss shouted

"Not for long!" her Partner shouted before taking aim.

Unfortunately for her, by the time she'd gotten the single limb in her sight, Ratlug had steadied himself with one arm and reached down to the controls of the machine with one of his feet.

The Machine dodged out of the way of her round, and Ruby quickly panicked as she fired again and again to try bringing it down.

"A clever ploy, lassie." Ratlug jokingly commented as he piloted the machine out of the way of her rounds with but a single foot "Perhaps if you weren't part of such a worthless species it might've actually-"

Suddenly, Ratlug jerked his head to his left. The move was so sudden that Weiss ended up looking as well.

The train was just about to pass over a ravine, a sturdy looking bridge had been built which the tracks ran over.

But for Ratlug and his mech, there was nothing but a steep plummet ahead.

The Uruk acted immediately, leaping back from his speeding mech mere seconds before it fell, his filthy labcoat flailing as he watched the train pass to the other side uncontested.

Ruby and Weiss watched as the Uruk landed far behind them, he merely stood, grinned, then gave them a wave goodbye as he soon disappeared in the distance.

Weiss blinked, the sudden lack of immediate danger making all of her limbs feel heavier from the extreme exertion the previous thirty or so minutes put her through. Her partner, however, was already making a mad dash to her sister.

The Blonde was trying with marginal success to push herself back to her feet, the shaky train beneath her made her footing fail her as her sister approached, "Yang! A-are you-!?"

The young leader's panicked worries were stunted when Yang raised her good hand back in a silent gesture for silence, her wounded hand was tucked under her arm "..mmfine."

Weiss stood at Ruby's side, looking the brawler over and going wide-eyed upon looking at her face "You are most definitely not fine, Yang."

Besides the broken nose, Yang now sported a busted lip and a large gash crossing along the side of her face. That was to say nothing of all the bruises, some of which were already beginning to start swelling in response to the physical trauma she'd recently undergone.

"Said I'm fi-Blake!"

Stumbling towards the downed Faunus, Yang had to catch herself as she fell to her side.

Blake's eyes fluttered open once she felt herself being pulled into Yang's grasp, the pain of having her broken leg moved was nearly offset by the warm embrace, but the moment she saw her Partner's bruised and battered face she began silently shedding several small tears she'd been holding back during the battle.

"Oh god, oh god... Oh god!" Yang breathed heavily as Ruby and Weiss came to her side.

"Gundza..." the Faunus raised a finger towards the caboose "tried shooting...stopped...wanted to help...sorry..."

"Yang," Weiss shook the brawler "the towel."

Yang gave her a confused look as she cradled her partner, before realizing that she still had Ratlug's towel wrapped around her wrist.

Soon the Schnee was at her side, trying to staunch the Faunus's arm laceration with the cloth, "Ruby?" she called to her partner, shaking her from the mortified daze she seemed to let herself fall in "The caboose, if Gundza's still on board..."

"No, you're right." the Younger Girl looked down before giving a nod and hefting her weapon "I'll be right back."

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

The first thing Uthug did when he was roused back to the world of consciousness was hold back an immediate scream of terror.

He was lying on his back, initially looking up at the large hole that blonde tark made when she blasted him and that damned possessor into this train car. The scream only began rising when he tried taking in his surroundings and spotted a bloody smile being aimed at him from the back of the car.

His hands slammed against his mouth when the smile widened at being noticed, and his eyes traveled up to see Krimp the Friendly looking down at him from behind a mattress.

The Friendly Uruk's upper skull seemed like it had been partially caved in by something, and half his face seemed shifted, the skin just barely keeping itself together due to the broken bone beneath. But despite looking as though he'd been beaten by a horde of living castles, the Warchief's brother merely gave a silent giggle before raising a single finger to his split smile and shushing the now-panicked grunt.

"You looked as if you was having some troubles, buddy." Krimp spoke quietly, his hand lowering as the grunt before him scrambled away from him "Glad to see ya still kickin'!"

Uthug was dumbfounded, the wounds the outcast looked as if he suffered were gruesome even by some Uruk standards!

Krimp just continued smiling until being distracted by something "Oh, seems we's havin' company. Hope ya don't mind, but I ain't really in the mood for too much reconnecting at the moment. I's gonna just take my leave then."

And then, against all logic, the Uruk's massive head seemed to simply disappear into the cargo. No sign of him, not even a sound. Uthug panicked, whatever ungodly magics kept that hulking freak alive weren't anything he anted contact with in the near future.

He backed up, the back of his foot hitting something. It was his musket.

He snatched it up as he stood and aimed it towards where he last saw the freak, backing up towards the train's door as he kept an eye out for even the slightest sign of him. His vision darkened, he raised a hand to his head as a headache hit him at that very moment. Despite the pain, he kept the musket steady, for no pain would be worth whatever hell awaited if that thing got the drop on him.

But at that very second the door was pulled open behind him, and he spun to fire his musket before the back of a scythe struck him in the jaw and sent him to the ground.

Growling, Uthug tried to rise when a foot kicked his musket away and he stumbled. He looked up to find the barrel of a sniper rifle aimed at him, and met eyes with the fearful yet stern gaze of the red-themed girl wielding it. Sighing, the Looter raised his arms up and simply grumbled about his recent string of luck.

And that was thought he was left with as she knocked him unconscious, was there really any stupid sod out there who could claim to have luck worst than his?"

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

 **?_?_?_?_?**

"Look, she's wakin' up!"

Bebe opened her eyes, only to squint as bright neon colors flooded her vision and nearly blinded her. She had no idea where that bastard in the strange attire had taken her, she only remembered being shown to some admittedly beefy Uruk who immediately sprayed her with something. Wherever she was, it was connected to that horrifying thing the Uruks called the Shaman, and whatever was related to him would have to be a nightmare of unimaginable proportions.

She'd tried getting herself mentally prepared, thought back to all the horrific torture methods the other White Fang members told her to expect in cases of capture. But that had been with humans, she had no idea what to expect from these otherworldly monsters. She'd tried just picturing the worst case scenarios she could, but after thinking of what lurked underneath the Shaman's robe even that was thrown out the window.

She tried adjusting her eyes to the bright lights, a stark contrast to the darkened caves she and Uthug had been transported through earlier. She could see figures moving towards her, she could only guess they were her torturers for the evening. She almost winced as she felt herself being pulled up a bit by one, but a memory of her brother reminding her of the indomitable spirit of the White Fang suddenly caused resolve to surge within her. It didn't matter what they did, they'd get nothing from her! She readied the most hardened glare she could muster, and opened her eyes to stare down her captor.

Only to be met with a clown.

"Hey!" his make-up spattered lips spread into a grin as he spoke in a familiar voice "She's finally awake!"

Bebe's eyes twitched as the Clown began talking, the sheer oddity before her causing any and all words to fail her as the other figure came into view.

It was a man who's head seemed to be nothing more than a sphere made entirely out of dreadlocks, "Look at her," Hair-Head also spoke in a familiar voice "she's like a lost little lamb!"

The clown stopped talking just long enough to chuckle at that "Right you are, laddie." he agreed before looking down at her "Anyway, so we was made to perform for 'em and got all the other guards involved in this grand dance number-"

Madness... that had to be the only explanation. Bebe's lower lip trembled at the unexpected sights, Hair-Head merely allowed the Clown to continue rambling as the unfortunate recipient continued to gawk at them. An office, this wasn't a torture room, it looked just like a regular office!

And those bright flashing lights, she soon realized they were coming from a large window that she was facing away from.

She pushed away from the clown, who released her without a fuss but continued making confusing statements "-then after the first few live streams got majorly big, he had us start makin' CD's and demo reels-"

Bebe continued backing up, her back finally hitting the window. Right now it was her only escape from this confusing nightmare she found herself trapped in. She turned to push it open and flee but was halted by the even more confusing sight on the other side.

A club floor rested outside the window, right below them. And on that club floor were a bunch of people in masquerade masks. However, their masks and fancy clothes all looked tattered and dirty, some to extreme degrees. Most of them just wandered and chatted while others smoked or downed alcohol. Several even took note of the horrified faunus looking down at them.

Bebe could feel herself being overtaxed by the steady stream of confusing nonsense which was being made real around her, and she turned back to the Clown and Hair-Head with her entire form trembling from the sheer lunacy she'd found herself trapped in.

"-and you?" the Clown finally said before gesturing towards her "You get to be the Limo Driver!"

The scream of anger, fear and confusion that tore its way out of her throat would go on to become the stuff of legends.

* * *

 **AN:** **Remember in the last Author's Note where I suggested this chapter would be below 40k words? Things like that are why I don''t put stock in my own predictions.**

 **Anyway, here it is: The Tower.I suppose one prediction I'm fairly certain is true is that you should expect less action for the next few chapters, since I kinda went overboard with that here, even by my standards. I knew that whichever chapter I stuck the Ratlug fight in would be either too big or too small, so I may have gone with the _better more than less_ approach. Either way, think it turned out nice. This symbolizes that we're over halfway done with this volume, though I'm not sure how many more chapters I'll have to make to reach the end.**

 **Anyway, onto the Uruks. Yes Uruks as in plural.**

 **Hork and the Garrison, didn't mention the Warchief much when I spoke about Ashgarn because out of the three of them I got the most enjoyable story out of the big brothers, especially Krimp who we'll get to later. Hork, as stated before, was a Warchief in my SoM play-through who's specific set of skills caused me problems in the campaign, sound familiar? Yeah, that's how most of that game's nemeses get to you. As the army swelled with members of his gang who managed to kill me during my fights with him, I began making a story similar to the one I made for the Storm. Anyone who bore his colors served him, and it just so happened that the personalities who sported them meshed with their story immensely.**

 **The most troublesome being Dharg and Pigug for two entirely different reasons. Pigug survived by basically tanking through all of my attacks and overwhelming me with superior strength and assistance from underlings. Dharg I could take down easily, but he just kept coming back no matter how many times I downed him, citing his raw devotion for his inability to stay buried. And so, following under the examples set by their leaders, the Garrison is supposed to be an example of stalwart loyalty and service to the dark lord. I suppose that would mean their closest comparison would be to the Dark Tribe in SoW, but I couldn't actually get any of them in there.**

 **Hork's band of stalwart defenders and loyalists formed kept me stuck in the storyline for some time until their deaths.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoy, any and all criticisms positive or negative are welcomed in full so leave a review if you are so inclined to do. Like it? Hate it? Any ways you feel I could improve? Expectations for the next chapter? Follow or Favorite at your leisure and I will see you all in the next installment of The Dreamer Gate.**

 **Next Chapter: The Singer**


	13. Chapter 13: The Singer

**Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of The Rings, the Middle-Earth universe, Shadow of War/Mordor or RWBY.**

 **This work will contain moments of intense violence, dark and dirty humor, and canonical divergences.**

* * *

 **The Singer**

"You think she'll like this?"

Ruby was driven from her own thoughts by the sound of her partner's voice, and the young brunette blinked as the rest of the sounds around her filtered back in as well. Cars moving, people chatting and even some birdsong in the distance, it was as normal a day as it could be for the people of Vale. Well, as normal as it could be given recent events. Despite the air of normalcy, there was this underlying sense of tension. It had been there since Roman's breach of the city some time ago, but only now has it grown to a point where ignoring it is impossible.

Ruby could even see some visual signs of it, for instance-

"Ruby!" Weiss snapped, tired of having to call for the little Reaper's attention over and over again.

Ruby squeaked in surprise as her gaze shot to the annoyed looking heiress beside her, who had been holding out a book for her to inspect.

"I said," the White-Haired girl paused to collect herself before repeating "do you think Blake will like this?"

The Scythe-Wielder looked down at the hard cover presented to her " _Small Works by Geomander Finch_?"

"I know how she likes her reading, and I've seen her collection of Tales of Faunus Past." Weiss pulled the book back and patted it with a confident smile gracing her lips "As such I felt as though adding to it with a rarity such as this would ease her recovery. At least, I felt it was better than..."

Weiss trailed off as she looked to the comparatively small book Ruby had clenched between her own fingers: _101 Ways to Make Cookies._

"I'll have you know," Ruby said as she raised the cook book to her chest defensively and pointed her nose up in the air "that whenever I was bedridden as a kid, Dad would make me homecooked cookies with a glass of the richest milk available! Never did it once fail to brighten my day!"

"Good plan sis," came a voice behind her "but sometimes ya just gotta stick with the classics."

Both of the girls glanced over to see Yang waving with a bandaged hand, grinning through several more bandages on her face as she lifted something in front of her with her good hand.

It was a 'Hang in there, Kitty!' poster.

Ruby immediately held back a tiny giggle as Weiss's palm quickly got acquainted with her own face, "Yang, your partner is stuck in a wheelchair and you insist on beating her down further with ungodly jokes?"

Yang brushed the poster for a moment and locked eyes with the heiress before rolling them "As you said, she's my partner. And as her partner I feel as though she'd see the comedic value here."

"Ugh," Weiss groaned before turning and continuing down the sidewalk "I hope not. I'd hate having only one teammate I can talk to without falling down the Pun Pit."

Yang snickered as she followed behind "Pun Pit! That's a good one Weiss, glad to see you contributing to our team's specific style of humor. I know you love it!"

Ruby followed behind as Weiss released yet another groan of distaste. But despite her teammates' banter, she couldn't help but let her mind wander again as they walked.

They were discovered by Atlas officials soon after the train passed into Vale territory, thankfully Weiss' quick patchwork kept Blake from bleeding out long enough for them to get her proper attention. But while the Faunus was being tended to, the girls had to explain their actions to the Headmasters. Ozpin immediately congratulated them for recovering their teammate from such a precarious situation, but even that wasn't enough to keep Glynda from lambasting them for their reckless plan.

However, it was Ironwood who offered safety from Glynda's wrath in exchange for information. All four of the girls were questioned at length about what they'd encountered, and learned quite a bit about what had transpired in their absence. Ozpin had formally announced to the world at large that the Uruks were a presence, and what had only been rumors and ignored reports soon became a flood of encounters as a result.

Those who held back out of fear and disbelief were suddenly coming out with hundreds if not thousands of tales of the Uruks. Stories ranged from bands of them fighting Human and Faunus raiders for territory, Uruks in Storm colors being spotted on outskirts of various kingdoms, and a shocking amount of witnesses claiming to have been aided at some point by a giant Uruk with a polite attitude.

If not for the Arena, people may have begun panicking, but reassurance from Atlas officials and video footage of caged Uruks being transported on trucks and carriers were enough to put the general masses at relative ease. Others, however, came at the situation with entirely different intentions. Whispers from supporters of the White Fang conjured up horror stories regarding the origin of the Uruks. Some said they were the results of horrifying experiments the SDC were performing on Faunus workers, others said they were actually supposed to be shock troopers created by Atlas.

Stories like this were to be expected, if what Ozpin said was true, but so far the populace seemed stable. Vale's citizenry went about their daily lives and the Uruks became a thing for those outside the City to worry about. The raiders still hadn't reformed since the Arena, but there are still accounts of the otherworldly monsters attacking travelers or contesting with Huntsmen. Ironwood even used the situation to convince Vale's Council that more Atlesian support would be necessary during the tournament.

Thinking about the tournament made Ruby pause with a sigh, but she quickly hurried to catch up with her teammates.

Team RWBY wouldn't be competing in the upcoming Vytal Festival Tournament, a shock to many of their classmates.

It wasn't part of a punishment or anything, there was just no way they'd be ready by then. They all took too much damage during their escape from Hork's Tower, pushed themselves farther than even they believed was possible. They'd suffered for it, mostly at the hands of that Storm Captain: Ratlug. While Yang, Weiss and Ruby could probably heal up and recover by the time the event came around, Blake was in a bad way.

By the time they got her to medical staff, the Faunus was struggling just to keep from passing out. The doctors told them that none of it would be permanent save for a few scars here and there, she had the Aura of a trained huntress and she'd definitely get out faster than most with wounds like her's would.

But she wouldn't even be able to walk until halfway through the Tournament.

It had been a disappointment to everyone, one that Blake continuously tried apologizing for. They'd all had plans for the Tournament, all had aspirations they wanted to see through. It had been a chance to show their ability as a team, Team RWBY's great claim to fame. But without all four of them then all that was moot. Her teammates tried reassuring the faunus that just being able to work together as a team again would be a greater joy than winning a tournament, and Blake finally seemed to accept their reasoning.

But Ruby knew Blake wouldn't let herself off the hook that easily, it had always been one of the Faunus's less enjoyable tendencies. But the thing is, Ruby wasn't exactly sure why she was blaming herself. For letting Ratlug injure her so badly? He nearly tore all of them apart, not just her. She just so happened to get separated from them long enough for him to...

Ruby closed her eyes, the image of Blake's battered and bleeding form being tossed to the roof of the train flashing in her mind with gruesome detail.

In any case, Yang would have a talk with her eventually. She was the Faunus's partner after all, and from how her sister explains things they'd done something like this before.

Ruby could only hope that these gifts would lighten her load a bit, get Blake in the proper mood for a good ol' Xiao-Long counseling session.

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

Blake sighed as the radio's music continued driving away the muffled sounds of the world beyond her hospital room's window. Every person on the sidewalks, every bird in the sky, even the older looking cars on the streets had their accompanying sounds replaced with some soothing jazz. Well, it was supposed to be soothing. For the young Faunus, the music was actually far more effective at leaving her alone with her thoughts, and her thoughts were anything but soothing.

No matter what the others said, she had seen the looks on all their faces when they'd been told that they wouldn't be participating. She knew they wouldn't want her to blame herself, and even she had been tired of all the guilt her mind seemed so fond of tossing at her, but she just couldn't help it. She'd never tolerated the idea of weighing others down, and had fought tooth and claw to make sure that she was supporting those around her as much as she possibly could. Making up for all the times she'd ran away, no doubt.

This unending urge to prove that she was a benefit to others had landed her in hot water before, but it was only as she recalled her actions on the train that she truly saw how blinded by it she could get. She'd planned on shooting Ratlug while he was distracted, provide support for her teammates even when wounded so critically like she had been. But as she thought back to it, she realized that she would've been slaughtered if the Engineer turned his attention to her.

In reality, Gundza emptying that clip trying to kill her just might've kept her from dying.

And yet, even that realization did nothing to keep her from being angry with herself. Her entire style of combat revolved around evasiveness, yet she just couldn't hold out.

She'd wanted to blame Gundza and that unfortunate captive of his for wearing her down beforehand, but every time she tried tossing the blame on them she remembered Krimp's words. The Friendly Uruk had seemed dead set on putting her in a position where she couldn't possibly stop his brother from killing Yang, wanted her to blame him instead of herself if she failed.

There was just something about those words that made her so much more self-critical. Was it stubbornness? Did she just want to spite the Uruk by actively avoiding his desired outcome?

Blake figured it was just because of her history with blame itself.

At that very moment, the music ended. Soon a cheesy advertisement played and began spewing lines about some new workout routine or something.

Blake rolled her eyes, ads like these tended to last almost as long as some songs. She finally pushed away from the window and reached to her sides.

Gripping the wheels of her chair, she rolled away from the window and turned towards the radio on the dresser nearby. With careful moves, she rolled herself towards the radio whilst trying to ignore the next ad, which was about some miracle itching cream. She reached out as soon as she was within range and began changing stations. After several, she found one which seemed to have classical music.

She leaned back as she let the sounds of stringed instruments and piano wash over her, glancing up to catch sight of herself in a nearby mirror. She ignored the many bandages and the thick-looking cast wrapped around her leg, her attention moving towards the chipped cat ear on her head.

Gundza hadn't been found, Ruby only found Uthug back in the caboose. It wouldn't have been weird if it wasn't for the fact that the Scythe Wielder also claimed to find something else's blood. The Headmasters had assumed the black blood had been Gundza's, something the Shadow spilt whilst trying to seek refuge in the Grunt's body. But since there were no signs of him inside the Looter after he'd woken up, they'd all just assumed the Assassin hadn't the strength to take over and merely jumped off the train at some point.

Blake thought of the Looter, who had been questioned via scrolls by the Headmasters before being sent off for the Arceus. By his account, he was just some random guy that Gundza had fallen into after he'd fallen to the first floor. Blake had asked the General to question him about the odd Glyph he seemed to summon, but Uthug seemed just as confused about it as them.

Blake didn't know much about the Arceus, besides what she heard on the news. Apparently, it was some kind of luxury cruise ship that Atlas had been working to build with help from the SDC. It was supposed to be a five-star resort capable of sailing between the kingdoms and be enjoyed by all. However, it had only been partially completed by the time the Uruks became a problem. As soon as their sheer numbers were discovered, the Atlesian military had converted the Arceus into a floating prison midway through its construction.

Blake wasn't sure how it worked, but the news and Atlas Officials kept saying how the entire set up was designed to keep their prisoners as far away from the mainland as possible while they worked to find some way to reason with the Uruks.

She didn't know much beyond that, but could only guess it was like a regular prison on water.

Would that be enough for these things? How exactly had the military altered the Arceus? There was no footage of the actual ship besides shots of it being assembled. The rest of the populace just seemed glad that the Uruks imprisoned there wouldn't be a threat to them anymore.

But the way it was being kept so covered up gave Blake bad vibes.

* * *

 **Elsewhere...**

"Knock?"

"Shut up."

"Knock Knock!"

"Shut...up."

"Knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock-!"

Uthug was about thirteen seconds away from knock knocking his own skull against the metal wall behind him. Of all the prisoners who had to get transferred with him, it had to be some mad Uruk with a giant hole in the top of his head.

The tarks had tried covering up the wound with some bandages before putting him in this metal box, but the crazy bastard had already eaten half the coverings and was busy smacking the rest of it against the walls with each _knock_. The metal box they were in seemed to be moving upwards, but it wasn't moving fast enough! Uthug hated Maddened Uruks, not just because Tuka had ended up like them but because every single one of them was ungodly annoying.

"Knock Knock!"

Uthug would've brained him the second he heard the first knock, but the Tarks had taken his musket at some point. They'd even replaced his stolen White Fang get up with some standard-looking grey one-piece jumpsuit identical to Knocker's, which was just rubbing salt in the wound. He was all for killing anything that annoyed him, but Knocker over here seemed a tad too beefy. He wasn't dumb enough to take on a physically stronger opponent with nothing to put between them, especially in a space this small.

 ** _-on't need._**

Uthug's hand flew to his head, annoyance reaching new heights. He'd been catching snips and pieces of Gundza's voice ever since the train, it had to be the result of the bastard fighting him for his body for so goddamn long. Worst, this was an annoyance he couldn't stab or strangle, so he'd just have to deal with it until it wore off.

"Knock Knock!"

Maybe that whole knocking his head against the wall thing wasn't such a bad idea, at least while unconscious he wouldn't have to deal with any of-

The Metal box finally came to a stop, Knocker actually went quiet when this happened.

"Finally!" Uthug exclaimed as he pushed himself up using a nearby wall.

He waited for the guards to open up the box and drag them away, hopefully to a solitary cell where he could actually hear himself think. He hadn't gotten a look at this dungeon from the outside, as these Atlas folk seemed fond of blindfolds and sedatives, but he was almost positive its cells couldn't be worst than the Tower storage room he'd slept in previously.

But when the walls of the box began sliding down around him, there were no guards.

The wall in front of him slid down into a slot in the floor, revealing a grey floor covered in broken tile, dist and dirt. Directly ahead was a set of stair in a similar state of disrepair which seemed to lead to a second floor. There was an odd set of stairs in the middle of the bigger staircase, each step on the smaller one was made of metal with an odd design.

 ** _Escalator_**

Uthug clutched his forehead again and stumbled out of the box onto the broken tiled floor, teeth gritting as he paused to catch his breath.

With his head cleared once more, the Looter looked up and immediately felt his jaw drop.

They were in a massive room, in the very center of it in fact. That staircase was one of three, with two on either side of them. They weren't the only stairs, as there were about four floors between them and the roof above. Each floor had walkways lining them, some of which broken. He could see makeshift paths strewn together above. There were lights built into the walls, but some seemed to be busted, making the place far dimmer than it should be. But it wasn't exactly dark, mostly thanks to the massive window directly above them. Pure sunlight poured in from above, but it merely highlighted how dark the halls and rooms that were out of its reach were by comparison.

Uthug had never seen a dungeon like this, it wasn't exactly bad in comparison to the literal piles of dung he'd experienced in the past. It just didn't seem-

 ** _Mall?_**

He paused. It seemed like a mall? But he didn't even know what a mall looked like! The shrakh was a-?

"Knock Knock!"

Uthug turned and watched as the ceiling of the box they'd arrived in folded against one of the walls, which descended into slots in the floor similar to the first. The base of the box was covered by two panels, which forced Knocker to move off else they'd catch his foot in them.

"What the Shrakh kinda dungeon is this?" Uthug muttered to himself, only for Knocker to turn on him.

"Knock!" the Mad Uruk approached him with an expectant look in his eyes.

Uthug backed away, gesturing for some personal space as he tried not to stare at the open portion of the other Uruk's head "Hey hey buddy, easy there."

 ** _Trouble_**

The Scavenger groaned, this was not what he needed now. He gave the surrounding area a once over again, really taking in just how torn up this place was. Pipes sticking from walls and sections of wall missing, was this really a prison? It seemed more similar to ruins than an actual place to house war prisoners, there were just so many potential weapons-

Eyes widening, Uthug immediately made for the nearest section of broken wall.

"Knock?" the other Uruk gave him a confused look, but Uthug was to busy grinning to care.

His hand wrapped around a promising piece of busted metal which he began tugging on. He shot Knocker a grin as he pulled harder on the implement, didn't want the annoying shrakh running off before he could bust the rest of his skull now did he?

"You was right, lad! New meat!"

Uthug paused as figures began approaching from a hall beside a nearby staircase, three Uruks wearing identical grey jumpsuits. However, they seemed to have customized them to an extent with dirty cloth which covered their arms and were formed into large aprons. The cloth seemed as though it had been white at some point.

The Looter frowned as they approached, redoubling his efforts to break the metal free from the wall.

"Knock?" Knocker turned on the three with a tilted head "Knock knock knock knock knock!"

"Wus wrong with that one?" one of the other inmates asked his cohorts

"Maybe 'is broken," another said "hope so... want some fresh meats on me plate tonight."

"Quiet!" the third shouted to the other two whilst pointing a broken length of pipe at them, he turned to Uthug and Knocker before gesturing for them to follow "Come on, you two is coming with us."

"Wait," Uthug gave up on the metal piece and turned to them with a suspicious look in his eyes "are you three supposed to be the guards?"

"Guards? What- No! Listen, you gotta come with us now, we don't got time for questions!"

"Whatdya mean don't got time?" the Scavenger folded his arms "This is a dungeon, right? There ain't nothin but time."

"Knock knock knock!" Knocker yelled before turning and darting off

"Wait!" the Pipe-Wielder shouted towards the fleeing Uruk before bawling his hand into a fist "Damn it!"

"Fine meal just up and left," one of the other two sighed "bet the Crew gonna get him."

"Why didn't you two grab him?!" the Pipe Uruk barked to them "That's one less recruit we's getting because you globs apparently don't know what tackling is."

"Calm it Kurgo. We's got a whole 'nother one right over there!"

Kurgo grunted before turning and advancing "You're coming with us, now!"

"Shrakh to that!" Uthug grunted before jabbing a finger towards them "That bastard was on about Recruits? I don't care how topsy turvy this damn place is, its a prison! I'mma do what a prisoner does and find somewhere nice to-!"

 ** _Aura_**

Uthug blinked as his forearms shot up to block the incoming pipe, confusion settling in just as Kurgo hopped back.

"He's thicker than most," he stated as the inmates to his sides raised their fists and rushed forward.

 ** _Weapon_**

The Scavenger looked around quickly as the inmates rushed him, finally his gaze settled on a piece of exposed tile jutting forward near his feet. Uthug dropped to a knee and bashed a jagged piece of the tile loose just as the first reached him. Uthug lunged under his fist whilst ramming the jagged tip of the tile into his side.

Uthug stood as the inmate stumbled and turned to look at him, "Quick learner we got here, eh?"

"Don't just stand there," Kurgo cried as he ran forward with his pipe in both hands "grab something you idiots!"

As Uthug began dodging the Uruk's swings, the other two looked at each other for a brief moment before looking around. The one who'd been stabbed caught sight of the very same piece of metal that the Looter had his eye on, and flexed his muscles as he walked over to it. The other grunted with frustration before reaching for the same broken tiles Uthug procured his jagged piece from.

 ** _Keep dodging, wait for an opening._**

The scavenger had no time to question the growing presence of the voice in his head, as the Pipe gave him more than enough to focus on. Even so, he followed its instruction. Avoiding the flurry of swings, Uthug waited until he saw Kurgo's foot slip on a pile of dust before going for a strike. However, a large object entered the corner of his vision and he instead launched himself back as a heavy length of metal crashed in-between them.

"You dimwit," Kurgo yelled as he backed up "ya nearly got me!"

"Sorry boss, eheheh." the inmate chuckled before hefting the metal again.

Uthug had to dodge back as the metal was swung at him several times, the Looter faltering at the idea of how much damage that piece could probably cause if it connects.

 ** _It's slow, use it._**

"Use wha-?" Uthug threw himself back as the metal piece slammed into the ground before him.

Realization hitting him all too quickly, the Scavenger raced forward before the inmate could lift it again. Running along the piece of metal, the Looter leaped before sending both of his feet into the inmate's jaw.

Both of them landed, but Uthug was the only one who got up, the impact having rendered his opponent unconscious.

"By the dark lord, that was amazing!" the Looter cheered to himself "That was-!"

His celebration was interrupted when a full piece of tile was shattered atop his head, and though he stumbled forward he was confused once more by just how little he felt it compared to when he was often struck before.

 ** _Pay attention._**

"Fine, fine." Uthug grumbled as the inmate before him picked up pieces of the recently shattered tile and rushed him.

Uthug stepped under the first swing and grabbed hold of the inmate's wrist before twisting him around, but the inmate's leg swung back and dropped the Looter to one knee.

Before he could swing back, Uthug rammed his head into his stomach and wrapped his arms around his waist before charging forward and throwing him towards a nearby staircase, impaling him on a piece of broken railing.

The Scavenger would've taken that moment to take a breath, but the incoming footsteps prompted to duck as a pipe swung over his head. Kurgo swung with his swing, raising his free arm and bashing Uthug's piece of tile out of his hands with a well timed elbow.

The Inmate pointed his pipe at him and growled "You stubborn Shrakh!"

The Looter quickly looked around for another item he could use as a weapon, not seeing anything in his immediate vicinity.

 ** _Calm down, Maggot. We're stronger than him._**

At that, Uthug turned his attention back to the advancing Kurgo and gave him a once-over before raising his fists.

The two charged at each other, with Uthug darting out of the way of the pipe before ramming his fist into Kurgo's jaw. The inmate didn't falter, instead spinning with the momentum of the impact and swinging his pipe back. But this time the Scavenger was ready, as soon as the Pipe was close he lunged into the attack and grabbed hold of Kurgo's wrist.

Before the inmate could properly react, Uthug's fist sailed into his elbow and broke his arm. Kurgo released a howl as the pipe clattered out of his grasp, and he stumbled back as soon as Uthug released him. However, by the time he looked from his dangling limb to the incoming Looter, it was already too late. Uthug had snatched the Pipe the moment it had been dropped, and took no small amount of pleasure in sending it crashing into the inmate's face.

Uthug released a silent cheer, pumping his fist as Kurgo struggled to his feet, mouth dripping blood and a couple broken teeth.

"You don't know what you're doing." the inmate spat

"I'm fightin' for my right to not have to put up with you bastards!" the Looter growled "I've had to deal with too many arseholes leading me on recently, and I'd like to be incarcerated in peace, thank ya very much."

"But if you don't join with us-!" Kurgo paused as the sound of a door slamming open echoed from one of the floors above, the Uruk cursed his breath "Screw this."

He turned and bolted as Uthug looked up, above he could see another Uruk in a hard hat of sorts looking down at him from the fourth floor.

"It was this one today, guys!" the Uruk shouted back to others presumably "Looks like there's one here!"

 ** _Run..._**

Before Uthug could begin questioning the voice, the Hard hat Uruk vaulted over the railing above and descended. Several other inmates followed behind him, they looked far less uniform than three who assaulted him.

The Looter wasted no time in making a break for it.

* * *

 **~The City of Vale: Penelope's Pallet~**

A bored looking young lady looked up from her magazine just as the sound of a bell reached her ears.

Looking across the many tables to the eatery's front door, she spotted three girls with very specific looking color schemes entering her place of employment.

"Are you sure this is the right place, Yang?" the one in White said with a glance at their surroundings.

Rolling her eyes, the young girl behind the counter leaned away from the register towards a small window in the wall behind her.

"Hey Malts!" she called back "You said to keep an eye out for the chicks in the red and yellow, right?"

Soon a portly man peaked out of the window at her, "Yes I- Yang! Ruby!"

Hearing their names, two of the three girls looked over before large smiles spread across their faces.

"Told ya!" Yang shot Weiss a cheeky smirk as she approached the counter "Malts my man, been too long!"

"Your telling me," the Baker lowered his gaze and shook his head "last time I saw your friends they were telling me all about how you'd been captured by some of those horrid raiders."

The Blonde leaned against the counter and scratched her head "Yeah, was kind of rough, but you know me! It'll take more than a couple sweaty slavers to take me down."

The young girl behind the counter cast an indifferent glance between Malts and the girls before sighing "So, are you like... gonna grab a table or-?"

"Tabitha, could I have a minute?" Malts whispered to his coworker before looking back at the girls "Look, I'd love to catch up girls, especially considering the state you were all in last time we spoke."

"It wasn't one of our finer moments." Weiss admitted with a sigh

"But my sister runs this place like a sweatshop, I tell ya. So I don't have many opportunities to chat with pals."

"She ever get into that cook book of yours?" Ruby asked

"She wishes!" he gave a hearty laugh before sighing and looking back into the kitchen "She took quite an offense to that, now I work most of the cooking back here. I'm not a young buck anymore, doing the work of three or four cooks has given me quite a few aches and pains. However, I'll gladly take the work before letting her ruin any of my recipes."

"Aw," the young girl pouted "does that mean you can't make your masterful Malts Marble Cake anymore?"

The old fellow got a twinkle in his eye at that before pointing pass them to the tables "Why don't you girls get to ordering and I'll make you something special for dessert, eh?"

The place wasn't a big restaurant or anything, but there were a large number of patrons there. Even so, a large number of tables near the center of the eatery were vacant, and the three members of Team RWBY slipped in with ease.

"I hope Malts isn't getting worked too hard," Ruby muttered as she placed her chin her palm "he was doing so good for himself back in Yires."

"He'll bounce back, Sis." Yang rubbed her bag before clapping her hands together "I once saw the guy carry a whole three layer wedding cake across the town while balancing it on a single sheet. When it comes to catering, he's basically a one man army."

Weiss raised an eyebrow at that, but Tabi arrived with menus before she could question the authenticity of such a tale.

"I guess he is unbeatable in a kitchen..." Ruby admitted while analyzing the available entrees, she then grew a curious expression before nudging her sister "Hey Yang, what do you think Blake would like?"

The Blonde grinned "Oh?" she quickly grabbed her own menu and flipped threw several pictures before pausing and pointing "How about-?"

"No." Weiss deadpanned from across the table as she searched through her own menu.

"You didn't even hear my suggestion." Yang grumbled

"The moment I realized there was a section of seafood I knew you wouldn't be able to help yourself." Weiss lowered her menu before glancing around.

"Perceptive as ever, eh Princess?" Yang gave a small laugh before tilting her head towards the white haired girl "Didn't we already go over the whole comedic value thing earlier?"

"The question you should be asking is _Why isn't anyone sitting near us?_ "

Yang's grin disappeared as Ruby lowered her menu, and the sisters began taking in their surroundings as well.

It was almost like a large circle of empty tables, one that they just so happened to be in. At the center was a table just like any others, but from here the girls could see it had a little 'Reserved' sign on it. The customers initially looked as if they were merely enjoying their meals, but closer inspection would reveal that a number were merely sitting and waiting with their scrolls out.

"Weird," Ruby commented "I did notice the tables, but some of these guys don't really seem like they're here for eating."

"Indeed, if this were a more popular locale I'd say they almost looked like stealthy paparazzi given how much they seem to be fiddling with their cameras." Weiss said before pausing to look to the ceiling thoughtfully "Well, either that or this place may just attract the types who photograph everything."

"Girls!"

The three turned to see Malts leaning out of the kitchen with a concerned look on his face, he gestured for their attention "Girls! I didn't mention this before but you do not want to sit there!"

Ruby tilted her head, "Why not?" she asked before nodding to the reserved table "Special guests?"

Before he could answer, the baker paused as something reached his ears.

Closer to the doors, the girls recognized the sounds of distant music drawing closer. Many of the other customers turned towards the doors while drawing their scrolls as a battered limo pulled up. It looked fairly unstable, and it almost clipped a bench while parking, but eventually the driver's door opened and an annoyed-looking Deer Faunus got out. She covered her ears as she drew closer to the back of the limo, and was about to knock on it when it swung open and nearly slammed into her.

A large blur of color rushed from the limo and charged the front door.

Suddenly some dude in baggy clothes and clown make-up threw open the door and immediately raised both hands to his mouth before shouting, "Yo boys and girls, where my bitch at!?"

It was so surprising that both Ruby and Weiss were immediately rendered stunned as the large man immediately scanned the customers. Everything from the boots to the over sized jacket looked shabby, not in a dirty way but more of a used way. His make-up looked smeared and messy, but matched well with the rainbow afro. Even the Afro looked shabby, with chunks missing here and there, plus the curls seemed knotted and twisted in odd ways.

"Now now, lolololol." another voice came from behind the clown as a figure stepped into view "She works on these days, Banz my boy, maybe yell a bit louder in case she didn't hear us, lololololol?"

As the odd sound emanated from the second figure, he tapped his finger against what at first looked like hair.

It wasn't.

The Clown's friend had long dreadlocks which seemed tied in odd patterns to form a thick ball around his head, with a pair of sunglasses jammed into the bundle where his eyes would be. Dressed in a single dark blue tracksuit, he almost looked tamer in comparison to the loud, colorful guy next to him despite the hair.

"Oh my god." Yang muttered before leaning low and gesturing for the attention of her teammates "Guys, do you know who those two are?"

"Annoying?" Weiss offered

"Why does that one guy look like he got attacked by a circus?" Ruby asked before catching sight of Tabi moving from behind the counter.

Almost immediately, Banz homed in on the approaching employee before he cracked a smile "Ah, there she is!" he cheered before raising his arms and gesturing towards her "Can't even start my fuckin' day without getting a nice eyeful o' them lumps baby girl!"

"You want the usual, right?" the bored-looking server asked as she gestured to the reserved table.

"Lady," Banz chuckled as he plopped down ina seat and carelessly tossed the _Reserved_ sign aside "you keep facing me with a body like that, I'll agree to anything ya say."

Weiss glanced back to Yang "So who are these two exactly?"

The Blonde leaned back in her chair "So the big guy is Banz and the guy with the messed up hairdo is Rolo, they kinda exploded onto the music scene about a week ago. Nora got me one of their CDs as a get-well gift, and they're good. I mean really good."

The Heiress narrowed her eyes at that and turned back just as Tabi finished writing something down in a little pad.

"Okay guys," she said with a sigh before turning and walking off "we'll be sure to get back to you as soon as possible."

"Hey baby," Banz leaned on his table with a grin as his eyes traveled south "mind takin' ya time while giving the cook our orders? I wanna savor this."

"Keeping me from my meal just to ogle?" Rolo shook his head "Quite the bastard move, old bean."

"The hell man, you eat way too fine to start bitching about holdin up a meal." Banz groaned to the shorter entertainer "I can make a meal any damn time I want, but only a particular piece of ass can really bring a day together."

"There are entire stores designed entirely around having skimpily dressed women wander around and serve food along with compliments, one of which ain't even twelve blocks from the studio, lolololol." Rolo pointed out "Why in the hell do we have to come out all the way here just for one bored college chick?"

"Gotta appreciate the difficulty of the catch, mate." Banz patted his partner on the head "Its what separates the perverts from connoisseurs like me."

Weiss turned back to Yang with an unconvinced frown"Those guys? Them right there?"

"Seriously, they make crazy good music. They use their semblances to make some awesome tunes, trust me." Yang insisted before frowning "But their penchant for acting terrible in public is widely known. Banz for the obvious, and Rolo never turns his semblance off."

The rap beat had followed the duo into the eatery, and only after Yang mentioned Rolo's semblance did her teammates realize it was actually emanating from the smaller of the two. They also noticed that the beat was oddly comprised of classical instruments, played in certain ways to imitate a traditional beat.

"He's more than just an annoying boombox." Tabi said as she approached the girls with her little pad out "He may not have his pal's rampant flirtations, but he's one underhanded instigator. Pair them up and it usually ends in disaster, but the boss likes 'em. They're very loose with their wallets, and Banz literally slaps a handful of hundred lien cards onto whatever I serve him, so we put up with it."

"So you just allow him to talk about you like that?" Ruby asked "That sounds horrible."

"Horrible or not, that freakshow's putting me through more classes than anything else so I could care less." Tabi shrugged before tapping her pad "You girls ordering or what?"

Following the example of the other customers, the girls did their best to ignore the music and focus on ordering their meals.

It was easier said than done, since Banz was openly salivating as his eyes ran up and down their server's form from his seat. They weren't the only ones to notice, Rolo paused in tugging at his literal mess of a hairdo when he spotted the moisture on his companion's lips.

"Your drooling my boy, lololololol." Rolo pointed out.

"Huh? Aw shit." Banz grumbled before reaching to his side and immediately latching onto Rolo's sleeve and dragging the smaller guy closer. Against Rolo's protests, the clown proceeded to use his tracksuit sleeve to dab away the drool before releasing him.

"Much better," Banz chuckled "thanks mate."

"Dude!" Rolo nearly wretched at his now moistened tracksuit sleeve before glaring at his partner "What in fuck's name was that for!?"

"What, you expected me to use my own sleeve?" the Clown shook his head "Absolutely disgusting. I don't want that kinda stuff on my clothes, this makeup ain't easy to get out."

Rolo's glare hardened at that, and he quickly reached into his pocket for something as Banz continued prattling on.

"That tracksuit o' yours don't absorb fluids as much, so you cleaning it would be far easier than me-"

Suddenly, Banz whipped his hand back and caught Rolo's wrist before he could douse him with an uncapped flask "Ha!" the clown chuckled "Gotcha laddie, guess you just ain't sneaky enough to-"

Rolo dropped the flask, which clattered on the table and splattered some of its no doubt alcoholic contents on Banz, who immediately shoved him away with a curse. in the comotion, a single stray drop of the fluid was launched away, and ended up sinking into the clothes of an alreadyy irritated heiress.

She stood up out of her seat and immediately turned her glare on the two entertainers, "You two!"

Rolo had just finished laughing at Banz's expense when the Schnee's shout made him pause, the constant faux-beatbox music dying down somewhat to be replaced by a more inquisitive cello strum. The clown, however, was far more concerned with checking his appearance in a little scratched up compact mirror he'd pulled the second he'd been splashed.

"Better not have ruined my damn makeup you tiny-" he paused in his self-evaluation when Rolo nudged him "What?"

The music-maker nodded towards the outraged huntress before them, and Banz blinked "Oh shit, I didn't even notice her." he chuckled in genuine surprise before leaning forward "You need something, kid?"

"What I need, is for you two to control yourselves!" Weiss bit "Its one thing to act flamboyantly self-obsessed in public, its another thing entirely to ruin another's outing with it!"

"Owner said she ain't got no problem with it, lassie. I hear there's plenty of nice eateries around, I'm sure you could walk ya'self out if ya too rustled by us."

"Why should we have to inconvenience ourselves just because you can't-"

"Weiss!"

The Heiress paused and turned back to Ruby, who gestured to the side with a nervous smile "Maybe we could find a table that's farther away?"

"Sis, what are you doing?" the team leader turned back to see Yang leaning forward with her eyes locked on Weiss and the entertainers, wholly invested in the unfolding argument.

"Though a proper suggestion, its the principle of it, Ruby!" Weiss insisted before turning back to Rolo and Banz "I just can't stand people who go out of their way to ruin other people's day."

"Oh that's bullshit." the clown waved her off,

"True, lololololol." Rolo agreed as the beatbox tune returned in full force, he then jerked a thumb towards his partner "He isn't going out of his way, he's just terrible by nature."

"Shut the hell up man." Banz spat back at him before snapping his compact closed and glancing back to Weiss "Now I don't see where you get off thinking I should have any care for what you think-!"

"Actually," Rolo interjected with a tiny smirk "she's quite famous."

That gave the clown pause, and he turned back to his pal with a raised eyebrow "Excuse me?"

"Come on, Banzy, the full white attire, general sour look?"

Banz continued staring at him.

"Schnee Dust? Largest producer of energy propellant? Basically glued groin to groin with Atlas?"

Yet... more... staring...

"Net worth is about forty eight times our own?"

"Oh!" Banz snapped his fingers with a smile "No wonder I didn't even notice her! Don't really mesh well with the one percent."

"You sure you weren't just too busy eyeing up our server?" Weiss grumbled

"Yeah, that's a pretty large possibility." the Clown chuckled "She's fuckin' hot, ain't she?"

"That is absolutely disgusting."

"If you can look her up and down and tell me she don't got the curves of a sex machine, then maybe I'd agree." he patted himself on the chest "Banzy don't ever tell a lie lady, and a bit of truth I hope you can swallow is that you's getting all uppity for nothing!"

"Nothing? I can hardly talk with my teammates because of your rambunctious volume!"

"Well didn't your red friend- Wait... teammates?"

Banz glanced back to Rolo, who gave a sigh.

"She goes to Beacon, dude." the music-maker waited several seconds, and as Banz continued staring he threw up his hands in defeat "The guys who kill Grimm?"

"Ohhhhh" the Clown nodded slowly "Gotcha."

Ruby didn't know whether she should intervene or not, usually Weiss was adamant about holding her own in conversational bouts, and Ruby didn't want to undermine her by interrupting.

"This... is awesome." Yang said slowly

"Are you crazy?" she turned to her Sister with an incredulous look "This is not what we came here for!"

"Yeah yeah, I know that." the blonde insisted before pointing "But look."

Ruby followed her finger, and her frown deepened.

Many of the customers around them were praactically leaning over in their seats trying to get footage of the exchange with some trying to look less obvious than others. Some took pictures while others recorded, some were even taking notes as the argument unfurled, sometimes comparing with others.

"Two popular figures are getting into an argument, Rubes." Yang explained "The public practically goes into a feeding frenzy when this kind of stuff happens, and we're right at the origin! Think we might be able to get into some photo ops? Rubes?"

Yang glanced to her side only to find the seat beside her empty.

"Well how about not being an absolute-!"

Ruby grabbed Weiss's shoulder in the middle of her speech, making the heiress pause and glance back.

"Weiss, you're being watched." the red-themed reaper murmured.

The White haired youth blinked at that, turning away to find the unwelcome gaze of lenses focused on her. She gritted her teeth, but Banz remained unfazed.

"Eh, who cares?" he waved it off before leaning back in his chair and placing his shoes on the table "They just like snipping around my feet because I don't care to fix the pockets on this snazzy jacket O' mine."

He chuckled at that, but Rolo frowned as he noticed that Weiss wasn't immediately responding.

Instead she was being slowly pulled away by Ruby as she tried to ignore the gaze of the cameras.

Rolo narrowed his eyes before leaning forward at his table and smiling at his partner "Maybe they're just interested in seeing two famous singers interact, lololololol?"

"Eh?" Banz gave him a confused look "Thought she was supposed to be some rich chick?"

"I'm not surprised you wouldn't know this, lolololol, but she's also lauded for having quite the singing voice."

Banz looked to the ceiling with a hum "Man, that's almost kinda sad. Always shakes me when I see the peeps I'm taking fans from."

Weiss paused at that, with Ruby trying harder to pull her away as she looked back at the entertainers "Excuse me?"

"Just saying," the Clown shrugged "with me and Rolo over here all you old school folks about to get upstaged!"

Ruby saw what was coming from a mile away "Weiss, don't-!"

"Excuse me!?" the Heiress repeated ass she pulled away and stomped back over "I don't think your understand how much hard work I put into _ **-** into making myself sound like such a pretentious little girl when a fact I don't agree with gets me so mad I wanna scream_!"

Ruby actually flinched back "Weiss?"

"I- I did not say that." the white haired girl said back before glaring at a humored Banz, who continued speaking in an exact copy of the Heiress's voice.

"Yeah, I'd never tell the truth because it would make it seem like I'm pretty goddamn petty!" he cooed dramatically before leaning back and howling with laughter in his regular voice "Face it lady, all that training and junk is for naught with me around, I got everything you give and more!"

"What...how?" Weiss demanded

"I told you guys that their music careers center around their semblances." Yang pointed out as she stepped over and nodded towards the duo "Rolo makes music and Banz can change his voice in anyway he wants, and I do mean _any_ way."

"But-but then there's no skill involved!" Weiss glared at the still smiling singer "You can't just be proud of something that you never worked for!"

"The hundreds of thousands of lien I've made off it says differently." Banz deadpanned before chuckling "And we ain't been selling stuff for long, think we might catch up to you one day in terms of funds?"

"I doubt it." Rolo shrugged

"This isn't about the money!" Weiss insisted "Its about the integrity of an-!"

"Bullshit," Banz interrupted as he stood up from his seat "there ain't no point in having skills of any type if ya can't get filthy fuckin' rich for it! What the point o' getting jobs if you can't buy shit because of 'em?"

"Maybe because you want to help people, do something for your community?" Ruby offered

"You's tryin to be a huntress right?" Banz asked, and when Ruby nodded in response he continued "You get paid for that right?"

"Even if she did," Weiss interjected "its about the effect the occupation has on the populace that is truly-"

"I don't want to hear anything about money from you miss 'I don't have to take people seriously because I got more than them!"

"When did I ever even imply that I thought anything resembling that?!"

"I can see it in your eyes!" Banz insisted "You think just because you're forty-something times worth my Net thingie that I have to give a damn what you think!"

Ruby watched from the sidelines as the two continued arguing "I-...should we pull her away or-?"

"Sis," Yang patted her on the shoulder "If there's one thing I know about Weiss its that when she gets going there's not much that can stop her."

"Besides, just think of the mutual media attention."

The Sisters glanced to the side to find Rolo standing beside them, admiring the scene while tapping his massive hairdo where his lips might be.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked, only for Yang to chuckle

"Those guys with the cameras? Most are probably with some big media outlets, something like this'll make waves on air and make more people aware of their music." the blonde explained "Probably get them some nice lien in the end."

"I see I'm not the only one with a hard-on for forethought, lololololol" Rolo clasped his hands together and began rubbing them in anticipation "Controversy equals attention, and my dear pal over there is a controversy goldmine! Just look at him! Obnoxious, self-absorbed and dressed like an alcoholic rainbow. He is a beacon of attention!"

"I was wondering why you guys were dressed so oddly." Yang wondered "So the outfits are just to stand out?"

"Partially, we're under contract, lololololol." he explained "We can't break character in public... ever. My boss seems to understand the importance of standing out as well."

"Hey!"

The three turned to find Tabi walking from the back of the restaurant, eyes glued to the rising conflict "How long are they going to be like this?"

Ruby stammered "I... I don't know..."

"I haven't seen someone stubborn enough to stand against Weiss for this long in a while." Yang admitted

"Oh, and she pulls the drab attire card." Rolo commented as he watched the Heiress insult his partner "How will Banz respond? He has a selection of potential rebuttals. Oh? Oh! And he pulls a Stubborn Ignorance, can the Schnee possibly work around such an ironclad defense?"

"What are you doing?" Tabi asked

"This is the kind of thing that just demands commentary!" Rolo explained before gesturing "I mean we got two combatants verbally tearing into each other with a comfortable arena and a crowd desperate for more! I'd be an idiot to miss such an opportunity!"

Outside the establishment, a certain Deer Faunus leaned against one of the windows as the situation inside escalated. After leaving the busted up limo in what she hoped was a safe location, the driver had considered where she'd go. She was supposed to be the personal driver of the assholes causing a fuss in there, she wasn't to be too far from them or the limo while they weren't at the studio. Like hell she was gonna stay behind the wheel and wait, the damn thing didn't even have A.C. She wasn't about to walk inside and get embroiled in whatever those two were getting started in there, so she decided to just enjoy the outside air.

She just wanted to enjoy this moment, as she hadn't been able to relax for a long time. But as she looked around, something in an alley directly across the street made her pause.

A large form was staring at her from within, a form which seemed to notice that it had been spotted before disappearing further into the alley.

This form stepped away from the corner, its massive limbs moving with a shocking amount of grace. As soon as it was sure it was once again unseen, this form lifted the excessively large hood of his jacket before fanning his head.

After that, he pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. It wouldn't be good if he was caught in public, he needed to find this address fast. It would've been a little easier if he could... just... understand what the piece of paper said. The last person he asked had seemed so sure that this was where the location was, but...

The figure shrugged, it'd be fine! He knew how to get around back-alleys like nothing. He'd done something like this before, only... maybe without so much secrecy required.

He raised a fist in enthusiasm, he'd find this mystery location in no time!

And so he searched, moving throughout the underbelly of Vale. He knew how to be quiet, he'd had to do it loads of times! Even though he didn't really look like a stealthy fellow, he knew how to make his large body move in ways that left little to no sounds. Knew how to maneuver through things, knew how to be sneaky sneak, knew how to-

"Money up front, asshole!"

He paused while maneuvering past a row of trash cans, his keen ears picking up the sound of an angry lady nearby.

He soon found himself staring into another large space between buildings. Along with the usual White Fang graffiti and suspiciously moist ground, the figure spotted two people pressed together against a wall.

Seems the lady was trying to get the big guy off her, oh... the figure hoped he wasn't being too intrusive but-

"Hey buddies!" he called out, making both the people look up in surprise, as neither had heard the large figure arrive. He stepped out from the shadows, revealing him to be just some massive guy in a pink jogging uniform. From the hoodie to the sweat pants, everything about him screamed jogger.

"Sorry to be interrupting ya thingie, but I need some directions."

The man's unfocused eyes settled on the jogger for a moment before eventually looking back down at the girl beneath him, he soon gave a dazed smile and gestured towards the runner "M-man... we can share- I mean..."

"Goddamn it Phil," the woman shouted "I told you to stay off the Gresh! Either show me the cash or get the hell off!"

"No... no money... gonna..." Phil muttered before leaning down and trying to kiss her.

"Fucking-! Hey big guy!" she shouted out as she tried desperately to keep her attacker from removing her clothes "Hey, get him off!"

"Oh, I ain't really supposed to get involved in friendly disputes and all." the Jogger chuckled to himself as he looked away "Friends usually have certain rituals that others can't-"

"Asshole I will be your best friend in the goddamn world if you get this shit off me!"

The Jogger's words died at that, and he looked over with wide eyes before pressing his fingers together nervously before smiling "Okie-dokie buddy!" he cheered before stepping forward and reaching down.

With a single, massive hand he grabbed Phil and hoisted him off his victim, the Gresh-addled man apparently not realizing he was no longer on the ground as he continued reaching for her despite his position.

"Got'em pal o' mine!" the Jogger cheered "Now about my-"

The woman got off the ground and immediately sent her foot sailing into Phil's groin. The Jogger flinched as Phil released a shriek before the pain rendered him unconscious. The woman practically yanked him out of the Jogger's grasp before kicking the man while he was down. Dropping to her knees, she immediately rifled through his pockets before taking the man's wallet and going through it.

"Two-Fifty? Ugh" she groaned before pocketing the cash "you cheap fuck."

With that she kicked him again before tossing his empty wallet aside and turning to her oddly colored _savior, w_ ho was standing off to the side with his hands behind his back "The hell are you staring at?"

"Just politefully waiting for you to get done with your business, buddy!"

Her frown deepened as she crossed her arms and nodded to the unconscious man "That guy was supposed to be my business, so unless you're willing to take his place and cough up some lien for a good time, could you get lost?"

"Oh! I didn't know I was wasting in your time!" the Jogger pulled out his paper and approached "I just wanted directions, ma'am!"

The girl leaned down to get a better look at the terrible handwriting she was faced with, and was about to point out how terrible the big guy was at taking notes when she recognized the address, "What do you need from this place?"

The Jogger giggled before jerking a thumb towards himself "My pal owns the place, and I need some help from him! You know where it is?"

"I mean... I used to work there so-"

The Jogger gasped loudly "Oh my goodness! Maybe he can help you out with the whole money thing, maybe he'll feel generous if you help me get over there! What do you say, best friend?"

The woman looked at him with a blank look before gesturing "Follow me."

The Jogger gave a victorious fist pump before following her. Having friends was the best! He didn't know a single thing in the world that couldn't be made easier by having a good pal with you.

* * *

Uthug leaned out from behind a beam, looking over the hall from the broken portions of the ceiling. At first he was sure he'd found a design flaw, something he could use to get out of whatever hellhole the tarks had dropped him into. But alas, it served as nothing more than a temporary hiding spot to elude the Uruks who had given pursuit. Even after they'd passed under him, he'd made sure to stay exactly there until he was sure they were gone. It would be easier for him to scan his surroundings, if not for-

 ** _They've been gone a while_**

"Shut the hell up!" Uthug grunted before tapping a finger to his forehead and grimacing in disgust "I don't know why you're still in my head, but don't think I can't get you out!"

Silence.

"You aren't just gonna camp inside my skull ya shrakh!"

More silence.

The Looter's eye twitched in agitation, and he reached to the side before raising the length of pipe he'd taken from Kurgo. Gripping it in both hands, he pulled away before swinging it towards himself, only for his arms to halt a mere second from hitting him.

 _ **The shrakh are you doing?!**_

"I fucking knew it!"

 ** _Fine, fine just put the damn pipe down and shut up._**

"The hell are you-"

 ** _I said shut up!_**

Uthug bit his tongue, giving a small snarl before trying again.

 _What in the shrakh are you still doing here, Gundza?! Those Tark wenches said your bloodied arse ran when ya couldn't hide in me anymore._

 ** _I couldn't control you, your aura had failed and mine was unable to cover the loss. Didn't mean I couldn't still use you._**

 _Why the hell wouldn't you just beat it!? I hear ya got yaself blasted! Now you's stuck in this dreg heap same as me, the hell wouldn't you-_

 ** _What? Roll off the train and crawl my way through the desert bleeding to death?_**

 _Well now you're stuck here! Stuck here in this tark prison like the rest of us._

 _ **I believe the payoff will be worth it. You see, I'm convinced that you are actually what I need.**_

 _Wha-? No! Don't think you can pull that mental bullshit again, laddie. I can fight back! I don't care if I get us both killed, you will not-!_

 _ **I'm not trying to take over your body again, damn it! I recognize that your disgusting amount of spite is fairly useful for repelling me, but I saw you on the train. You've got potential.**_

 _A-are you actually trying to sell me a pitch? You were tossing me around for most of the time!_

 ** _And yet you held up. You aren't the simple, pathetic grunt you seem intent on portraying._**

 _Yeah... I'm really feeling special ya bastard._

 _ **I used to lead Uruks under the Garrison's banner, I know how to spot potential. Under the right guidance you can be a downright lethal weapon! And that semblance of yours, I saw it! I know that you can steal the abilities of others!**_

 _What, that random circle thing?_ Uthug glanced down at his hands _I'm fairly certain one o' the girls panicked and used their-_

 ** _No! That was my target's semblance, I've been following them for weeks now, I know this. You stole it, and used it! So many times I've been outplayed because of them being able to work around my plans, cutting off the advantages their semblances give by taking them as our own may be the leg up I've needed!_**

 _Oh so that's it, you just want me to help you catch the white haired cur? Find some other lackey to help, I finally get a chance to hide away here in this prison while those idiots outside kill each other._

 ** _No you won't. I know where we are boyo, you don't wanna be here._**

 _Piss off_

 ** _We get out, you help me catch her, we go our separate ways and in the process you become a true warrior!_**

Uthug lowered his gaze at that, angry mumbles slipping out in response to the offer. But as he looked down, he caught sight of someone moving below, another inmate. Unlike the ones he'd fought and evaded earlier, this one didn't have any identifying apparel, simply had the bottom half of the same jumpsuit Uthug had. He seemed a bit malnourished, and was scampering about as quiet as could be while holding a long length of wood behind him. If he hadn't been looking, Uthug was sure he would've missed him. But as the runt slithered off, Uthug made up his mind.

"Screw that." he whispered before dropping down from his hiding spot.

The inmate heard him immediately, his head snapping back towards the Looter before taking off. Uthug wasted no time in giving pursuit.

"As soon as I figure out how," he said as he raced for his target "I'm hauling your arse out of my head!"

 ** _You can't do that! With abilities like mine, they'd probably put me through horrid testing if they found out they had me!_**

"Even better!" Uthug shouted with glee before he lunged forth and tackled the inmate to the ground, he came up on top but the Uruk below managed to kick him off.

As the Scavenger got back to his feet, the inmate scrambled for his simplistic weapon before lashing at him. Ducking under the swing, Uthug grabbed his arm and twisted until the wooden piece fell out of his grasp. Once he kicked the weapon away, Uthug rammed the inmate into a nearby wall before slamming his foot into his stomach. Pressure forced the Uruk to start gasping as the foot dug deeper, but Uthug merely kept him pinned as he glared at him.

"Oi, you seem to have been here a while." Uthug pointed out as he folded his arms across his chest "You mind filling someone new like me in?"

"Wha?" the inmate coughed "Who? What ya want? Enough with da hurtin!"

The Scavenger grunted "Information damn it, I knows we're in a dungeon of sorts, what I want to know is how things work here? I ain't ever been part of of no prison where the captives are able to run around willy nilly hunting each other down and brawling. This ain't no massive Pit Fight deal, is it?"

"Whatcha bloody talkin' 'bout?"

"Look, I arrived, immediately got cornered by three blokes in odd cloth trying to nab me, then after dealing with them a bunch o' boys in random stuff tried mugging me.

"Wha-oh! Sounds like ya met the caterers?"

"Excuse me?"

The Inmate grunted as he tried and failed to get a bit more comfortable "Look, I was nabbed when them tarks ruined our arena, not the first lads to end up here but I showed up with biggest group. Someone who came in with us started rallying boys planning to blast their way outta here as quickly as possible. But then another Uruk starts calling them out, saying we all should take the prison for ourselves, and that the other bastards would end up destroying some prime winnings with their plan. The two butted heads and at first worked on their own plans, with the guys who were trying to blast their way out holding up in what seems like a ruined dining area and the guys trying to steal the place finding their way into abandoned maintenance tunnels. Soon the two started sabotaging each other's plans because each side was certain their way was better, now they're locked in this gang war of sorts trying to get out while undermining the other's efforts. The groups got their names from the specific uniforms found around their home turfs. Caterers from the dining hall and the Crew run through the maintenance tunnels."

 ** _Oh no_**

That stole Uthug's attention, he glanced away from the inmate for a second "Oh no? What's oh no?"

 ** _This isn't an average prison, boy, we're on board a massive, re-purposed vessel. If the Caterers really do plan on tearing the place apart to get out then we all drown unless we're lucky enough to be near land, which I wouldn't hold out hope for._**

"What? How the hell would a dungeon this big even-"

"Who the shrakh are you talking to?" the still-pinned inmate asked apprehensively as he watched his captor reply to nothing.

Uthug grunted, going silent for a moment as he thought. He finally turned back to his captive and pressed harder onto him "Oi, how do I find these Crew blokes?

 _ **What?**_

"Agh! Just find any old hole in the walls, you can-agh!" he cried out as Uthug's foot dug into him, the pressure straining the organs within him "The Ruined shoppin center's a quick walk down this way! Was supposed to be part of some mall thing or whatever! There's a clothing department in there, hole there leads right into their territories for god's sakes!"

Uthug released him and stepped back to watch the Inmate bend low to pick up his stick and hobble off while trying not to vomit. The looter turned and began making for that center, much to the dismay of his passenger.

 _ **What are you doing?**_

 _Come on, I've been working under Captains long enough to know how this song and dance goes. Dumb bastards who ain't affiliated end up scrounging for scraps like that worm back there or the muggers, I'm hitching up with the Crew._

 _ **No, you need training! You can't risk extremely outnumbering yourself without the capability to escape if things go sour! We need to continue hiding and building up-**_

 _Maybe they'll have some way to carve your arse out of my head as well._

Uthug awarded himself a small chuckle as he felt Gundza fume within him.

 _ **You need to see the long term benefits of allowing me to train you! I've been humiliated by those girls for far too long, Uthug. Isn't helping me with my revenge a trivial exchange for power? Those girls are probably mocking me right this very instant!**_

* * *

"Coming to you live from Penelope's Pallet, folks. I'm Rolo, bringing you the lattest scoops on Weiss vs Banz, round five. Sitting with me here are Ruby Rose and Yang-Xia Long, personal acquaintances of the contestant."

Despite Ruby sighing, her sister had already fallen into the role "Last round was a banger, let me tell you that, Rolly." the blonde laughed to herself before pointing over to her their companions.

To say the situation had escalated would've been an understatement of legendary proportions. As Weiss's and Banz's argument went on people kept noticing from outside and entering just to see it. Several of the paparazzi had begun live-streaming, and Rolo had exacerbated this by providing full play by play commentary. Yang knew the second she spotted the empty seat next to him that she had a once-in-a-lifetime experience laid out before her like a full course meal. If she didn't bite, she might lose the feast entirely.

"Weiss managed to finally break through Rolo's defensive passivity and incite the Singer to lash out," she continued "but the Singer managed to curtail her argument with an impromptu rap solo which threw the Schnee off her game. You think she's got a chance to regain lost ground?"

"Either way the crowd's itchin' for more as the conclusion of this great spectacle draws closer and closer." Rolo patted his ungodly hair down before rubbing his hands together "It'll be grander than grand, I tell you! Both contestants are dragging each other through the mud just to get at the other's eyes! Who gets their fingers in first? Let's find out!"

"Because everyone is trying to make a difference, everyone is trying to make the world a better place through any means necessary!" Weiss continued hounding the ignorant bastard before her "I don't care if you can do something better than them, if you only do it for selfish reasons then there's no heart and soul involved!"

"You assuming little wretch, how dare you be insinuatin' that bitches and bling ain't part of my heart and soul!" Banz retaliated fiercely "I live and breath by the idea that as long as I sing like a holy cherub I'll be able to crush puss and roll around in a massive pile of lien. How dare you say that's not heart and soul!"

"But it isn't! It's just objectifying and selfish. I'm not saying you can't believe in it, I'm just saying its a horrible thing to put faith into!"

"You ever beeen laid?!"

"What-? I-No!"

"Come back after a good long riding and tell me that sex ain't something you can have real faith in!"

"Oooh, seems Banz is abusing the Heiress's lack of experience like an alcoholic boyfriend!" Rolo pointed out "She seems flabbergasted!"

"Damn it, didn't expect him to pull that one out so late in the game!" Yang gritted her teeth before reapplying her smirk "But Weiss has gotten out of trickier arguments, just you watch."

"Well she has the time to think of a rebuttal, because...!" Rolo held a hand to his ear as the music emanating from him shifted to a the sound of a horn "There's the break!"

"What!?" Banz shouted as Rolo walked over and backed him away from the table "Ya given 'em half time right when I was 'bout to slam dunk this bitch, the hell are you doing?!"

Weiss huffed at that, but sat down as her own teammates approached.

"Weiss, listen to me." Ruby said immediately as she grabbed the heiress's shoulder and gave her a shake "This wasn't what we came here for! We have to leave!"

"And let a pompous arse like him walk off feeling high and mighty?" the Schnee glanced back "I'd rather bite off my tongue than let someone like him ever have a victory over me."

"But-!"

"That's the Weiss I know and love!" Yang cheered as she also took a knee beside the white-haired girl and passed her some water "You got tossed a curve out there but I know you can bring it back! He's feeling confident right now, take the confidence and shove it right back into his face!"

Ruby turned to her sister with disbelief as her partner accepted the bottle and took a steady drink "Yang, we can't encourage this! You know she's gonna be mad later when she realizes we didn't stop her!"

The blonde shook her head "Ah, my own blood growing so responsible so soon." she sighed before grinning to her sibling "Have you forgotten how sweet making mistakes can be?"

"Yang-!"

"Don't worry, Ruby." Weiss interrupted as she passed the bottle back to Yang "He might know it yet but this clown's cornered himself."

Before Ruby could argue further, the same horn sound erupted from Rolo just as he retook his announcer's seat "And that's time people! Contestants, let's get back to the carnage!"

The little reaper found herself being pulled away by her sister as Banz and Weiss approached the table once more.

"Might've gotten lucky with that little break, princess," Banz pointed out "but it ain't changing nothing! Ya got no right to tell me what's right or wrong about my particular brand of fuckin', got no experience ta back you up!"

Weiss narrowed her gaze and shook her head "Maybe, but that's not being put into question. I just wanted you to avoid being a complete dolt about it and keep it to yourself instead of embarrassing yourself and everyone around you!"

"The hell do I care about embarrassment?!" he growled

"They resume laying into each other like well-taught Ursai, Banz's experience play may be stinging perhaps a bit more than the Heiress thought!" Rolo fixed his glasses "Has he possibly secured a basis for victor?! Has this argument already been won?!"

"Don't count my girl out just yet, buddy." Yang nudged him

"Ogling everyone you pass by has to get tired eventually, right?" Weiss questioned

"Pfft, I don't ogle everybody," Banz waved that off "and even if I did I doubt I'd ever get tired of it. But my contract strictly forbids who I get ta eye up. It sucks."

Then it happened.

"Hold your horses, ladies and gentlemen!" Rolo stood up from his seat and leaned forward "Seems Weiss Schnee has cracked a sudden smirk, has she found an opening?!"

"So even your contract is focused on nothing but your perverse ways, is your entire studio shameless?"

Banz went wide eyed before waving his arms dismissively "Woah woah, I never said nuttin' like that girlie! Boss just know how to go into detail, contract had so much more than all the stuff regarding the chicks!"

Weiss looked him straight in the eye "Name one thing in your contract that doesn't relate to women in any way."

Banz froze.

"Dear god he's baffled! Stunned like a virgin on 'er first time in the closet!" Rolo was now practically crawling atop the table before him with enthusiasm "There's no possible way! Banz me boy, we signed the damn thing together! How the hell do you not remember a single thing not related to the womenfolk!? Is there possibly a setting inside that meaty head of yours that isn't focused on ya dick?!"

"Shut up, man!" the singer bit towards his partner "It was seventeen pages long! Covers about twenty years worth of possibilities!"

"My cohort's unsurprising yet still disheartening lack of forethought has left him open!" Rollo looked away dramatically, glancing to a nearby clock.

"Damn it Rolly, now's not the time!" Banz turned back to Weiss "You's makin' me look bad, just where do ya get off? If you'd seen the kinda contract that stuck up bastard had me sign then you'd understand-!"

"I've read and reviewed contracts twice-no, three times as large as that when I was a child." Weiss interrupted "I am to run a massive association after all."

"And the tables have turned people!" Rolo shouted, every motion making the table shift "Now the heiress holds an experience advantage, Banz better get some plated knickers cuz she's about to have 'em by the balls!"

Ruby watched as the crowd responded to Rolo's words with gusto, fervor enhancing with every word spoken between Banz and Weiss. The Young huntress-in-training found her frown deepening further and further, watching her friend become a spectacle like this. She knew the moment she recognized Weiss's heritage that she'd probably get dragged into the spotlight because of her, but she'd come to realize that being friends with her would be worth it. But being right there, seeing it firsthand... it didn't feel nice.

She glanced to her sister, only to find that Yang had snuck over to one of the Paparazzi and seemed to be pestering him if the frown on his face was any indication. She kept pointing at his camera, but he kept moving it away defensively.

As she watched, she heard footsteps approaching "Not enjoying the spectacle, I take it?"

It was Malts, giving a small huff of exhaustion as he leaned against a nearby wall.

"I know that they're just trying to make money," Ruby mumbled as she stood, gesturing to the plethora of recording scrolls "it just doesn't feel right knowing what they're making it off of."

"Eh, I get it, Ruby." Malts sighed before looking away "Many of 'em aren't renown for respecting the subjects of their stories, but they're hungry customers so we can't really turn them away."

He jerked a thumb, and Ruby watched as Tabi walked around passing plates of food to many of the viewers. The young girl then had to rush back to the kitchen in order to fetch more trays.

"Feeding all these customers probably rakes in plenty," Malts continued "but for such a bare-bones crew like this, I probably only have two or three minutes before the next round of meals need making."

"Then why not hire someone else?" Ruby asked as she watched Tabi "Wouldn't it be better to have someone helping her?"

The Baker frowned "Probably, but like it or not she's the reason those two show-boaters come here, and since they make up the majority of our revenue now my Sister's doing everything she can to cater to them." he grumbled that last part a bit "Just means Tabi's gotta work twice as hard, but she gets all their tips so I guess it balances out in a way."

The two were silent for a moment as they Watched Weiss continue to hammer away at the Singer verbally, the Clown now struggling to keep up with her quick wordings. He wasn't getting any sideline assistance, his partner was so caught up in the spectacle that he was now jerking the table beneath him with violent fervor as he continued to commentate.

"Rolo said this was all for attention," Ruby began as she glanced towards Weiss with a look of concern "that everyone would come out of this more famous than before. But I don't know if Weiss would really like it that way."

"Eh, even if this all falls through she'll probably be fine." Malts shrugged before nodding to the white-haired youth "given her background and all."

When he only received a confused look from Ruby, he emphasized "You know how those rich Atlesian types are, most practically clamor over each other to show off how amazing their progeny is. Ya friend isn't different. She's been getting paraded around ever since she was in diapers, so I'm sure she's accustomed to dealing with all forms of media by now. So even if this entire scenario goes horribly, I have no doubt in my mind that she'll bounce back."

Hearing this, Ruby turned to look at her partner again, just in time for the closer apparently.

"This is it ladies and gentlemen!" Rolo roared to the crowd, both him and his table leaning forward dangerously "He's wide open with nary a smidge of defense, how in god's name could he possibly recover?! The answer is HE CAN'T!"

"We get it Rolo, shut the hell up!" Banz grunted before glancing back to Weiss "How dare-"

"Come back after actually paying attention to a business proposal for once and then claim to know anything of substance."

Banz physically lurched back at the sound of his own words being twisted back at him, the clown dropping to one knee as the crowd erupted in cheers.

"He's down! He's down!" Rolo practically danced over whilst roaring out to the viewers "Banz has been decimated! Obliterated! Absolutely fuckin' annihilated!"

Weiss said nothing, leaning back with a small smirk as Rolo continued shouting right into his partner's ear, much to the Clown's disgust, "They get it already, god damn."

But Rolo's tangent was nowhere near complete "He has just been used as the spitting bucket of the elite! Tossed into a dumpster and hurled through a supermarket! He's been bent over like a needy little slut and-!"

Rolo was finally silenced when Banz dug his hand into the shorter's massive mess of hair and yanked back before slamming his skull into the table. Rolo reeled back, stumbling a bit as stars spun across his vision "-right back after these message." he muttered before falling backwards into one of Banz's outstretched arms.

The Clown grumbled before backpedaling out of the store with his cohort slumped in one arm, "Fine fine! I know when I'm been beaten and whatnot!" he spat towards Weiss "Never went to know fancy talking schools, Lien really does make everything easier!"

Weiss had been so stunned by Rolo's sudden incapacitation that she wasn't able to offer another clever retort before the Singer fled. Even after the door to the eatery swing closed, she was still blinking away confusion. Even she had been getting agitated with the music-maker's obnoxious yelling, but Banz had rendered him unconscious seemingly without a thought. It was unbelievably... slapstick.

Before the Heiress could voice her confusion, she felt the chair she sat in being lifted up. Soon the crowd was lifting her up and congratulating her for her victory, and she quickly acted to regain her look of pleased superiority despite the nagging feeling growing in her mind. She quickly offered thanks for the congratulations, and was soon lowered back to the ground once the media was done glamourizing her, but she was barely able to get up before she found herself being pulled into a side hug from Yang.

"I knew you had it in you, Princess!" the Blonde snickered as Ruby approached with a slightly dissatisfied expression

"It was nothing really," Weiss waved it off "maybe now he'll learn not to be-"

Then it hit her.

What exactly had she won?

Weiss blinked, she'd been so caught up in the argument that she'd allowed herself to forget the original purpose of walking over to him in the first place. All she'd wanted was to get him to quiet down! But all she'd established now was that he was an ignorant bastard with little decorum, all of which should be blatantly obvious anyone!

How much time had she just wasted?!

The heiress looked up just in time to spot the beat-up Limo drive by, almost as if it was mocking her for letting its occupants bait her so easily.

The limo traveled deeper into Vale, people on sidewalks and even in other cars couldn't help but notice its distinctly damaged appearance. As she pulled to a stop at a red light, the deer-faunus who was driving released a sigh as she leaned against the wheel and watched the cars pass by.

She wasn't allowed to be with her thoughts for long, as a knocking from the rear off the limo startled her. With a growl of annoyance, she tried to ignore it, but the knocking just grew louder until she finally reached for a little panel behind her seat and slid it open.

"Damn it Zog, the hell do you want!" She spat back towards her passenger as she glanced back to the red light "I'm trying to drive!"

In the back were Rolo and Banz, lazing about as usual. The smaller off the two was tapping away at his scroll while Banz seemed in the middle of a drink. He'd grabbed a cold can of beer from a little bucket of ice and drinks they had, and seemed ready to partake in the alcoholic beverage when he'd heard the Faunus' angered retort.

"Codenames only, Hybrid." Rolo commented without looking up from his screen "Don't want the producer to get angry now do ya?"

"'Sides, I was just trying to get your opinion on how good that whole deal back at Pen's was." Banz continued before taking a quick sip "My boy Bor-I mean Rolo's givin' me shrakh for nothing!"

"You stuttered too many times, chap." the Music-Maker glanced to him "You can't rely solely on your semblance to sell it."

Banz rolled his eyes before turning back to their driver "But you was right outside, so I just wanted you to tell him just how awesome and convincing I was, baby."

"Its Bebe!" the faunus spat before glancing forward just in time to see the light turn green "And I wasn't focusing on your stupid little argument. I only have so much time in the day before having to deal with you monsters and your bullcrap, why would I waste a single moment of peace and quiet listening to you yell at some racist rich bitch?"

"Pfft," Banz grumbled as the Limo began moving again "with how loud we was, excuse me for not believing you. You was alone out there, the shrakh-... I mean, what the shit could've distracted you for that long? Yeah, that's the ticket."

As Banz congratulated himself on his quick correction, he didn't initially notice his driver's silence. It was only when she didn't reply for a while that he slammed fist against the wall of the limo and startled her out of whatever daze she was in "Oi! I didn't live through the crap I did for you to get me killed in a goddamn car wreck lady!"

Bebe shook her head a bit and focused on the road "Sorry, just... Well I actually did see something big staring at me from an alleyway. Kinda got me a little paranoid, but it was probably just some homeless dude or a gangster."

The Singer quirked an eyebrow "A big guy just stared at you?" He titled his head a bit in confusion before turning to his partner "Oi, what are the odds that was the Friendly?"

"Higher than you'd think," the smaller entertainer pointed out "the Producer gave him our address a while back, but I can only assume he's been keeping busy making friends."

"Who's friendly?" Their driver asked, only for Banz to wave it off.

"Just keep driving, we's got to get back to the boss. If we's getting a Friendly visit soon, he'll want to know."

* * *

Melanie was not in the mood.

She was making the shitty journey through this shitty part of town to her shitty apartment where her lazy as hell sister probably still is. Her appearance practically reeked of exhaustion, from the way she walked to the way the backpack on her shoulder kept nearly slipping off due to her poor handling of it. Add to that the bags under her eyes and any who saw the young lady would instantly know that she planned to pass out wherever she was heading.

To say that their life fell apart after Junior got nabbed would probably sound like an exaggeration to regular people, but you know what? Fuck them. While Junior was paying for their service they had free drinks and a nice comfy apartment and enough money to literally do nothing. The job was simple, look hot, beat up drunks, and deter anybody and everybody from trying to start shit. That was it, done. But all of a sudden all these big shots felt like using their little slice of heaven as a punching bag.

Melanie and her Twin had been optimistic after Junior was gone, maybe now they could find some other crime boss to guard, one who had less teenagers and White Fang breaking down his doors to get a piece of him. Nope. Ever since the Grimm Breach a while back, Criminal Activity was nearly non-existent.

The only ones who weren't still in hiding seemed convinced that it was somehow the Twins' fault for Junior's disappearance, and now their reputation was irreparably tarnished. Guarding regular places as an actual career just didn't pay as much when their wasn't something illegal involved, and Melanie and her sister had to quickly downsize to keep from going immediately homeless.

Now, neither of the young girls were anything close to patient, and what both hated most in the world was pretending to care about people. But there was one major difference between Melanie and her twin that most people seem to overlook, that being that she knew when to swallow her fucking pride.

She got herself a job she hates just like every other working Joe in Vale, put up with unruly customers and ever-dissatisfied superiors.

But her sister? Couldn't even be bothered to pick up a fast food gig.

Melanie wasn't surprised when she opened the door to the dingy little apartment to find her sister's clothes strewn about yet again. This was yet another thing she never had to put up with when she worked for Junior: Just how uncooperative her sibling could be. However, as she took a closer look at the clothing, she realized just how sheer and revealing they were. Her frown deepened.

"Militia!" she called out as she let her bag fall onto a stray bra and stormed towards their living room "What the hell were you wearing these things for? I swear to god if you were out there fuck-"

Melanie paused when she stepped into their tiny living room to see a massive humanoid creature scooping oatmeal from one of their bowls into its mouth. The humanoid turned to her with a spoon still tucked between its lips, and the two remained locked there for a moment as the elder sister tried to form the surprised utterances she was making into literally anything legible.

Finally, the intruder plucked the spoon out with one hand and swallowed the oatmeal loudly before grinning "Hi there, you must be Missy Militia's Big sis!" he said with glee as he carefully sat the bowl down "My name is-!"

Melanie darted for the Kitchen.

One hand whipped out her scroll while the other dove into their silverware drawer for the biggest, most ghastly knife it could get too. Her fighting boots were in their bedroom, on the other side of that thing. It felt odd being on the Victim's side of a police call for once, but Melanie didn't have time to ponder the irony while one of those things she saw on T.V. was busy making itself at home in her-

"What are you doing?"

So focused on finding a sizeable knife, Melanie hadn't noticed her sister lean against the kitchen's entrance wearing a fuzzy looking bathrobe.

Melanie didn't answer, instead she yanked her sibling into the kitchen and pressed the handle of a knife into her hands before going to the drawer for another "One of those Uruk things is in our home!"

"Yeah, that's Krimp, met him while I was working."

Melanie paused, lowering her scroll and turning away from the drawer to look at her sister incredulously "You what?"

"Hey, uh... Miss?" Krimp called out "I think I may have spillled some of this grain stuff on ya floor! Where ya got ya towels?"

Militia sighed before stepping passed her none-too-pleased sister and opening a cabinet "They're in here big guy!" she called out to him before glancing to her sibling "Look, I had some trouble with one of my customers and-"

"You were out slutting it up again!" Melanie interrupted as Krimp peaked in and graciously accepted a roll of paper towels from Militia before disappearing back into the living room "I can't believe this, I'm already busting my ass just to keep the electricity and water on, I don't need you getting some lethal STD from those goddamn junkies!"

"Hey, those Junkies helped us cover the last of the rent last month, and I didn't even have to work a fraction of what you were pulling." Militia retaliated "If you'd come out there and help me we'd be out of this dive and into a proper crib in a few weeks."

"Or," Melanie held up a finger before pointing it at her "you could get a real job. Two of us working should be more than enough to stabilize our-"

"If it won't get us out of this dive, I can't really consider it." Miltia shook her head

"And what will, riding drunks and hoping one of them tips harder?" Melanie rolled her eyes "Come on! I'm surprised it took this long for one of them to try something."

"Hey, I could'a taken him even if Krimp wasn't there!"

"And that brings us to the inhuman monster you currently have cleaning oatmeal off our floor!" Melanie said with an exasperated gasp "I was expecting you to bring an addict back here one day, maybe a serial murderer, but this is literally worst than anything I could've fuckin' imagined."

"Pfft, he may look like a walking tank, but come on Sis! Listen to him, the guy's retarded!"

"He doesn't have to be smart to pull us apart!"

They both paused when they heard a loud thud from the living room followed by a panicked "Uh oh!"

They found Krimp trying to hastily slide their old couch back into place while trying not to slip on the mountain of paper towels that now covered the floor.

"Sorry buddies!" Krimp gave a nervous laugh as he began collecting the scattered paper "Once I started cleaning I just couldn't help me'self! I'll get these outta ya way!"

They watched as he slowly inched his way out of the living room, only for Melanie to immediately glare at her twin.

Militia, however, was busy considering the newly cleaned room "Hm, did pretty good considering what he used."

"He needs to leave! I don't care if he sings lullabies and vomits gold, I am calling the police!"

"Don't gotta do that buddy!" Krimp popped out from around a corner "I wasn't plannin' on stayin' long anyway, but ya helpful sis over here started asking tons o' fun questions."

"Yeah," Miltia rolled her eyes before nodding to her sister "and he's got a way to help fix our little financial problem."

Melanie looked between the two of them several times with an unimpressed look, but then it shifted to one of abject disbelief. That soon shifted to anger as she once more glared at her sister "Damn it, I know you said you'd take any and all customers but for fuck's sake sis-!"

"Wha-? No! Not like that-" her twin waved her off before pausing "-I mean, if he had tons of lien then... I mean he knows where to get us some actual work instead of that garbage you do."

Before Melanie could retaliate, Krimp interjected "Please hear me out! I was just askin' for directions to a place me friend owns! But take a look at where that is!"

He raised a paper in front of Melanie, and the young lady had to squint to make sure she wasn't seeing it incorrectly.

"Oh you have got to be shitting me."

* * *

 _ **The least you could do is act like you don't want to be captured!**_

Unfortunately for Uthug, the dripping of moisture and occasional sprays of steam from the pipes around him were not enough to overshadow the voice in his head. Following the inmates directions, Uthug had eventually found his way to a surprisingly unguarded maintenance hatch which looked as if it had been hacked open. Once down in the guts of the ship, his passenger had grown even more in-content.

 _If these bastards start flinging metal or coming at me with weapons, I'll just evade. Slipping out of danger has practically been my motto the past few weeks, you'd be surprised how much I've managed to cheat death so far._

The Shadow's grumblings only served to entertain the Looter, who frowned as he continued traveling. Just how far did this tunnel go? By his estimates this ship had to at least be the size of a small city if its internal dimensions were anything to go off of. It absolutely boggled him that this was all apparently a single vessel, if the Crew really did manage to take it then it'd be like having a mobile fort right at their fingertips. Of course, he was planning on getting the shrakh away from this thing as soon as the Tarks were out of power. Fortresses were magnets for immense battles with both sides taking tons of casualties, and there was no way he was planning on figuring into those numbers.

He could've planned it better, no doubt these Crew guys were just as bloodthirsty as those Caterers or whatever the hell they're calling 'em. But seriously, screw plans. He'd find the nearest Crewmates and ask them if they need someone who could beat the shrakh outta worms, gotta keep it simple or else too many factors start going awry. He'd enjoy staying in the background while the gangs slaughter each other, then nab himself an escape once the dust starts to settle. Wasn't a perfect plan, but there was no way he was gonna take the damned time to make a convoluted, shrakh plan that'd end up failing just as quickly as showing up.

He noticed that his passenger had gone quiet, "Oi, ya make me concerned when all your yapping dies down, ya know?"

 _ **It just doesn't make sense.**_

That made the looter pause in his walking and fold his arms "Excuse me?"

 _ **Why would those Atlesians allow their captives to tear this place up so much? They've got Uruks scurrying through their maintenance tunnels and clawing paths threw this machine's innards. If these dumb globs weren't so caught up killing each other they'd already be out, yet there doesn't seem to be any type of suppression system.**_

Uthug smirked "Maybe they were banking on us killing each other," he began moving again "having their captives tear each other apart must be pretty cost effective."

 _ **I suppose its unsurprising given the nature of their captives. So many are Chiefless, so many have gone too long without a proper Warchief helping them see past their instincts and focus.**_

Uthug rolled his eyes, having not expected the sudden and impromptu lecture he had no choice but to listen to "Look, I get that. I was just saying that with how much we fight each other, are you really surprised that these Atlesian types could've been expecting it?"

 _ **That shouldn't give them leeway to be so lax with their prisoners! Even with their safety net this kind of oversight is appalling.**_

That made Uthug quirk an eyebrow "What's a net got to do with anything?"

 _ **Ugh, the Tarks have this vessel built with it. Its why we have to help the Crew win this petty squabble of theirs before a breakout could even be possible. This entire ship is-**_

A sheet of metal gave out beneath Uthug's feet, and soon the Shadow's voice was drowned out by the Looter's cries of distress as he slammed into a solid floor.

As he groaned and tried getting up, something spoke out.

"Finally one of you coward got the guts to show up!"

As soon as Uthug looked up, he came face to face with a metal mask.

He scrambled back immediately. He had fallen into what seemed like a small room with a single open door, the inmate in front of him seemed semi-covered in patchwork metal armor. Beneath it he could see the tattered remains of the standard jumpsuit, but what clashed mostly with his ramshackle armor was the safety vest. However, the vest did mesh well with the heavily loaded tool belt wrapped around his waist.

At the sides of the room the Looter noticed several other Uruks with similar attire who seemed to have been breaking pieces of the metal walls off when he'd fallen through.

 _ **Well, looks like you found them Grub. By all means, get them to accept you without dying.**_

Uthug frowned at the Shadow's Jab, but pushed himself up to his feet before staring down the Crew member "I'm not with the Caterers."

Almost immediately the inmate sighed, causing laughter to arise from one of the others as they returned to their work "Ya just had to dream, didn't ya Galkar?"

"Piss off!" Galkar grunted before walking over to an unclaimed section of wall and reaching for his tools "Maybe we're lucky and he's some kinda spy, promise to stab him twice if he goes for me liver."

The Looter blinked in confusion, with how his first interaction with the Caterers went he'd at least expected some more hostility. But as he looked around he found that all these Crew Members just looked... bored?

"Look, I want to join up."

They just kept working.

"I was attacked by some of those freaks in cooking attire when I arrived and-"

"Dear lord he's fresh meat." one of the Crewmates commented

"Shut up!" Galkar spat, "he could still be a spy, ya don't know! Hope ain't dead for me, yet!"

Uthug's eye twitched "Are you bastards even listening, here!?"

 _ **Calm down, ya sod. They still outnumber you with better gear, don't go pissing them off just-**_

"Ooh, feisty." another commented "Maybe this one'll actually get some shrakh done around here."

"You act as though you aren't the laziest piece of dung in this entire section o' the ship. Not sure I ever really seen you run _towards_ a brawl."

"I'll have you know I ain't risking my skin around those tricky, knife-throwing lunatics until my armor covers all my weak-points."

"Gonna take a while to get enough scrap for a full body set." Galkar grumbled "Especially if ya keep complaining instead of grabbing ya damn tools and working!"

"All of you are useless!" Uthug spat before shaking his head "Look, just point me in the direction of your boss."

 _ **Are you mad?! I'll admit that they may act like untrained filth but they still serve someone. What makes you think they'll just-**_

"Take a right outside, walk till ya get to the big hall and take a left." Galkar said without hesitation as he remained focused on his work "Then just keep going straight, Boss is at the end."

Uthug wasted no time in leaving, storming out of the room and into the hall where he found even more Crewmates just cutting at the metal walls or turning that metal into weapons and armor.

He paid them as little mind as they did for him, noticing that many reached for their homemade weaponry but just as quickly returned to their work once he passed by.

Uthug had expected many things from what was apparently the second major force in this prison, but what he hadn't foreseen was just how annoying they'd be. He'd been beaten, battered and abused by every manner of being for the past few eeks, but now he was faced with something he never expected to annoy him: being ignored by regular grunts.

As a looter, he usually made an effort not to show up in the limelight, so this didn't even make sense to him either. After so long being everything's whipping boy he should be ecstatic that he wasn't cleaning their weapons for them. He knew he was getting upset over what should be nothing, and that was what worried him. Had he become so used to being in a constant state of internal rage that it was even seepikng into things he found common before?

 _ **I don't understand... Isn't there supposed to be a gang war going on?!**_

And just when Uthug was getting used to his own angry murmurings, Gundza had to jump in with his own.

 _ **What is this?! Doesn't even look like they've built any fortifications! Uruks with a fight to win but no sizable fortifications?! Just half-assed armor and blades!? If I was in my own body I would've vomited at this being called a battle of any significance! Do they not know all of their lives are at stake!?**_

They took a right, only to be met with more of the same. A bunch of Uruks in armor with weapons yet not a single one of them doing anything except reinforcing their own gear.

 _ **No training sessions, no plotting attacks, doesn't even look like they've got a proper fight pits set up!**_

This stream of complaints did nothing but exasperate the Looter's annoyance. He hastened his pace, eager to get to the inevitable confrontation they seemed to be approaching. However, as he drew near an open doorway he slowed down. Guarding the doorway were two Uruks, yet they looked nothing like one would expect of a guard.

He'd noticed immediately that many of the Crew seemed underfed, but he'd assumed the Caterers simply had some kind of monopoly on the food here. It was a fair assumption given what he knew of them so far. But these guards here didn't look underfed, they looked straight up emaciated.

Instead of the usual ramshackle armor, these guys only wore the standard jumpsuit only it looked as thought eighty-seven blades had mauled it. Their bodies seemed thin and frail while covered in evidence of various wounds. The only weapons they had were a single spear each which they held in trembling hands. Far from the uncaring boredom which seemed to radiate from everyone else, these Guards just kept silently muttering in fear as they tried to keep their heads down.

It was so odd that Uthug was almost came to a halt, stopping only when he felt pressure in his noggin'.

 _ **Find him! Find the lying rat who managed to do this! Somehow able to make battle boring, I defy them! They have to be some form of rascal who's lied his way into a position of power. We have to overthrow them! Get these globs back in order and get this ball rolling ourselves!**_

Uthug complied, more so out of his own growing curiosity than the Shadow's growing agitation.

They passed through a small hall, it's lack of lighting contrasting with the well lit room beyond.

 _ **-turn the Dark Lord's greatest and most deadliest weapons into such a boring bunch of schmucks, impossible! When we find the runt who's ruining these already admittedly lackluster forces we'll-!**_

Gundza suddenly went silent as they entered the well lit room for some reason. Uthug didn't understand it, there was a pile of torn fabrics in the middle of the room. Most of them looked as if they'd been ripped from clothes, many looked like pieces of prisoner jumpsuits. In all four corners of the room were more of those tortured guards, all of them glancing to Uthug with looks of shock and disbelief marring their already battered figures.

Didn't seem like enough to make someone like Gundza pause, Uthug had seen worst fates in dungeons back in Mordor. The victimized guards had mostly grabbed his attention because of how different they looked from the bored Crewmates wandering about. Gundza was even older than him, Uthug refused to believe someone like him could be stumped by something like this.

But Uthug looked ahead and trained his eyes on the same thing which Gundza had spotted immediately upon entering: an odd mural which seemed to have been painted onto the far wall of the room. He hadn't given it much attention at first, his eyes having immediately gone to the tortured souls standing in the corners. But as he looked at it more, he noticed something familiar about it.

The Mural seemed to be painted with a suspicious series of Reds and Blacks. From the smell he could tell that most of it was blood. It had initially looked like a big mash of splotches and lines, but the image became clearer the more he looked at it. It was a face, a young face at that, and as he looked at how the reds formed the face's clothing...

"Looks a bit like the lass from the train." he couldn't help but mutter out loud

 _ **Oh no...**_

Uthug flinched back as a thin arm shot out of the pile of fabrics and began helping the hidden body within pull itself out. It was moving so fast that he almost missed the massive sickly growths that covered it. A boil covered head followed, shaking off several more fabrics before whipping back to look at Uthug.

"Ah, so you've seen my darling, eh?" Bubol asked as his sore covered lips stretched into a smile.

* * *

"Yang... what in God's name is this?"

"Though your words indicate shock and confusion, the smile on your lips tells me this was just the goofy pick me up you needed."

Blake hadn't even noticed that she was smiling. Shaking her head, she rolled up the cat poster as Yang continued to congratulate herself "You guys, really, there's no need for presents."

"After what happened? Are you crazy?" Ruby asked as she sat on Blake's bed "You deserve it!"

"Yeah, its one thing to get the snot beat out of you by that towel-obsessed jackass," Yang raised a finger "but to also take down that Gundza guy while incapacitated! I was so caught up fighting Ratlug that I didn't even notice you struggling."

"He was good," Blake admitted "if you guys were distracted by me for even a second then..."

She trailed off, but they could all feel the negative connotations. Weiss stepped over and handed the Faunus the book she'd acquired "If you're feeling too altruistic to consider these as gifts, then simply consider them the first parts of the Team RWBY celebration party we plan to have as soon as you're back at Beacon. How long did the doctor say?"

"A few days, a week at most." Blake responded as she laid the book in her lap and sighed "They just want to make sure the braces and stitches are holding everything together properly."

"Then that gives us plenty of time to get everyone's schedule synced!" Yang snickered as she wrapped an arm around her sister and gave her a little shake "Rube's gonna knock your socks off with these new cookie recipes she's got!"

"Yang!" Ruby pushed her away with a pout "That was supposed to be a surprise!"

As the young Team Leader scolded her giggling sister, Blake took the time to examine the book in her lap a bit more "Weiss," she began as she recognized the author "is this-?"

"Geomander Finch, yes. I'm positive you should be resting during your stay." the Heiress stated as she observed the hospital room "But, with how long I've known you, I figured getting a book in your hands was imperative."

Blake smiled at that before wheeling herself over to her radio and setting the book next to it, turning the classical music down a bit before turning back towards the white-haired youth "Weiss, thank you. Really, I never realized you were-... Weiss?"

Weiss hadn't turned to face her, still looking around the room with a disgruntled expression before she finally realized everyone was looking at her "Hm?"

"Are you okay?" Blake asked "You seem distracted."

Weiss blinked, but before she could wave it off Yang grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Our resident Ice Queen is just a little peeved because she got taken for a ride earlier!" the Blonde explained with a grin as the smaller girl tried to unsuccessfully dislodge her.

"I was not!" Weiss insisted "I merely underestimated their ability to waste time, I knew it was pointless from the very beginning! Truly!"

Blake tilted her head in confusion, only for Ruby to shake her head.

"Two very... Uh, expressive Celebrities showed up at a place we were trying to eat at." the Little Reaper explained "Weiss took offense to their antics, things got a little out of control."

"A little?!" Yang snickered as Weiss finally broke free " Rubes come on! I can already see the headlines! Schnee Heiress takes on Star Singer of Pug-Bringer Studios. Ya think this'll start some kind of Celebrity rivalry?"

"There will be no such thing!" Weiss insisted before pointing at Yang "Don't think I forgot who was in the midst of that mess helping spur everyone on you-!"

"Pug-Bringer Studios?"

All eyes went to Blake as she rubbed her chin "That's..." she turned back to her radio "I've heard of them, I've been listening to their music for the past few hours."

Weiss shook her head in disbelief before walking over and listening for several seconds, eyes narrowing at the fluent sounds of violins and piano melded together "So you're telling me... that those two offensive lunatics managed to make... this?"

"I told ya Weiss, their specialty is churning out music of all types in rapid succession." Yang shrugged "They haven't been in Vale for a week and already they've got several albums worth of stuff."

"That doesn't seem physically possible."

"I thought so too when I first heard of 'em," Yang whipped out her scroll "which is why I subscribed to their livestreams."

"You what?" Ruby asked

"Yeah, check it out!" the blonde gestured towards the Radio "Mind turning that down a bit, Blake?"

The faunus complied as her partner searched through several tabs, finally the team gathered around her as she stopped on one.

The screen showed Rolo and Banz in the middle of a semi-destroyed club. The Singer was reclining in a tattered couch while occasionally nodding his head to a serene classical melody, similar to the one Blake was listening but different style. This tune was accompanied by techno trance which Rolo was producing from an oddly designed DJ booth positioned near Banz's couch. It looked as though someone had torn apart several DJ booths and mashed them together. The singer stood in the odd machine and would manipulate the technical parts of the music. The addition of techno gave the music an intense alternate vibe that the Singer seemed to be enjoying, despite the frown firmly placed on his painted lips.

Checking the edges of the screen revealed a number of others in the destroyed club with them, a bunch of men and women in ruined masquerade attire. They seemed to be lazing about the ruined building or occasionally moving in time with the beat. Most of their expressions seemed hidden behind the dirty Masquerade masks each wore, except for one or two who were expressing so much that they could be read despite most of their faces being covered.

"What... what exactly is this?"

"You subscribe to Pug-Bringer Studios and get to see the creative process in its entirety." Yang explained "Although, these guys mostly come up with their stuff on the fly so this is basically just watching them dick around before getting suddenly getting inspired and spitting out a hit."

"You expect me to believe that they've managed to produce an extreme amount of content without even practicing?" Weiss asked "Yang, even planning out a single song can take weeks, depending on its quality. You can't blame me for being skeptical when you say these two ignoramuses can somehow skip past the entire creative process by-!"

"These are the guys who you got into an argument with?" Blake asked as she examined the odd duo on the screen.

"Well... yes," Weiss admitted as she folded her arms "They were upsetting everyone around them, I felt as though encouraging them to be a bit more respectful was necessary."

"Doesn't that guy make music with his semblance?" Ruby asked while pointing towards Rolo "Why's he need that whacky booth thing?"

"Nah nah, sis," Yang shook her head "see he can only make Classical sounding stuff so he compensates by working the Booth as well."

"Still doesn't explain how they can make stuff so quickly." the Heiress interjected

"Look, just watch."

The classical trance finally ground to a stop, and the few Masqueraders who were dancing joined the others in relaxing. Rolo leaned forward on his mixing station to look at his partner with anticipation "Feeling better yet champ?"

Banz shrugged, "Meh."

"Oh come on, lolololol!" Rolo backed off his station and walked over to the Singer "My sublime melodies always get ya up an' at 'em!"

"Just not feeling it man."

"Come on there big guy!" one of the Masqueraders wearing a Bunny Mask said as he stumbled past, bottle in hand "Nothing matters enough to be feeling so shit about! Acting like a total pusscake!"

Banz frowned and leaned up to scowl at him "I don't need any of your crap, G.B!" he shouted before lying back down "I just never realized how weak I was without money."

"Pointless! All pointless!" the Masquerader downed more alcohol before stumbling off screen

"He's got a point there, Bansy." Rolo kneeled beside "So what she had better training than you in the world of Language arts, you shouldn't be letting it affect your work."

"Dear lord," Weiss's eyes widened "are they still going on about it?"

Yang snickered "Media sensation of the week, Weiss, I'd be surprised if they _weren't_ still talking about it."

The Heiress glared at her for a moment before thinking of something "This is live, right? How many are watching?!"

The Brawler glanced at her before minimizing the stream, "Uh, over twenty three hundred?"

"What!?"

"I mean, I always knew how powerful I'd be when my pockets were bursting at the seams with Lien," Banz continued as he got up and wandered from his couch "But I never expected others to use their own excessive wealth against me! You know what that means lads?"

The Masqueraders began looking towards him as Rolo realized where this was going and quickly made for his booth once more.

"It means we gotta get fuckin' loaded faster! So that none o' them out there could ever upstage me with cash ever again!" Banz bellowed as Rolo began producing a beat "We can't just be swimming in lien, we gotta be fuckin' drowning in it!"

He hopped onto the couch before someone in the crowd tossed him a microphone, the furniture made sounds of strain under his weight as more of the Masqueraders got up and approached.

"Do you hear me?" the clown shouted louder as Rolo's beat grew in intensity "I'm not talking 'bout making it rain lien-!"

* * *

"I'm talking 'bout a fuckin' flood!"

Bebe winced as the beat dropped hard enough to nearly make her drop her drink. Suddenly, Banz was spitting hard raps about money and stuff while the Masqueraders danced to it.

The Limo Driver still hadn't gotten used to the sight, and made an effort to avoid any of the no-doubt intoxicated dancers lest they try dragging her into the spotlight. If there was one good thing about her current arrangements that she could enjoy, it was that there was enough liquor around this 'Studio' to keep her well and truly hammered while she wondered where in life she went wrong.

Just as she was going to take another sip, the bottle was suddenly snatched from her grasp by a passing Masquerader.

"Hey!" she shouted as the bunny-masked bastard danced away. She was about to give chase, but instead gritted her teeth as he danced into sight of one of the many cameras set up around this part of club. He turned back towards her and downed her entire drink in one go before letting the bottle fall to the ground next to him and raising his arms, taunting her with a grin. He probably knew of how desperately she'd been trying to keep out of their live-streams, and continued gesturing for her to try anything before turning and joining the rest of the Masqueraders.

Bebe sighed, already these guys seemed to be learning how much of a pushover she was, but at least she could expect them to not try murdering and eating her like the Uruks at Hork's Tower.

Thinking about the tower made her wince, and she didn't even have her drink to distract her anymore. Just as she was about to go searching for another drink, she spotted something odd.

Far out of the view of the cameras, three knew people entered the clubroom through the front entrance. It was odd, Bebe hadn't been here long but she already knew for a fact that the Boss had a strict no entry policy for most outsiders.

At the head of them was a really large, hooded Jogger, who looked over the dance floor with a gleaming grin as his two cohorts looked around.

"They really didn't clean shit." Melanie noted as she and her sister followed Krimp to a side door.

"Maybe my pal can get you girls a job as janitors!" Krimp suggested as he held a door open for them. The three entered a hall which was sparsely populated by several tired Masqueraders, but the Uruk led the way through the dancers with little interference.

"Pfft, already spent too many years of my life in this pigsty just standing around getting ogled at." Militia commented as she procured a makeup kit from her skirt pocket and proceeded to start applying "I'm not doing the same thing while having to clean it as well."

"Now hold on," Melanie said as she moved around a passed out Masquerader "I hated this idea from the beginning but even a janitorial job could help you-"

"Nope," Miltia interrupted immediately as she finished her lipstick "Hey Krimp, this friend of yours seeing anyone right now?"

"What?!" Melanie sputtered as Krimp gave a thoughtful hum

"Don't know really, never did seem like the romantic type."

"Hold up." Melanie raised a hand as the trio came to a stop "You aren't seriously intending to-"

"Slut it up in the event this guy doesn't slide us a good deal?" the red themed youth offered as she pocketed her kit again "Yes Sis, that's exactly what I plan to do."

"Damn it," Melanie jerked a thumb towards Krimp "if he's this guy's friend he's probably another human eating monster! Ya know, the guys who've apparently been murdering and raiding people outside the city for months now?"

"I don't care if he's a goddamn Grimm, he's a business owner who's possibly gone through a long enough dry-spell to where he couldn't resist a piece of me."

"I like your optimistic opportunism buddy!" Krimp cheered before he continued leading the way, seemingly blissfully unaware of the argument which broke out between the twins as they continued their way through the back paths of the club. Several of the Masqueraders looked at the arguing duo as the giant led them by, some even momentarily shifting their masks out of the way to see them better.

The arguing finally stopped when the siblings walked right into the back of their guide, who had finally come to a stop without their knowledge, "Here we are!"

Looking past him, the siblings spotted a simple door with a desk near it. Sitting at that desk was what looked to be another Masquerader, only her outfit seemed fresh and new compared to the filthy ones the others wore. She'd kept her eyes on the three the moment they entered her vision, but remained idly tapping away at an old monitor on her desk.

"Hello," Krimp greeted her as he approached the desk "I'm here to see my friend! Now would you mind if I-?"

"Just go in, who cares." the Masquerader shrugged

"Thankies!" Krimp said as he quite literally danced past her and threw open the door "Oggie! I'm back!"

When the twins entered, they found a sparsely decorated office with one wall having a large window which looked out over the club's main room. Lights and music filtered in slightly, the pounding beats causing several wall decorations to shake. Along with fake Grimm heads were several framed portraits of Pugs, some just playing while others while others were simply framed in cute poses. The juxtaposition between the dogs and the beasts was practically palpable.

The pictures led to a large wooden desk at the end of the room, behind it was a chair which was facing away from the trio towards a large golden shield mounted on the wall.

"What did I tell you about code names?" a man's voice came from the chair

"Didn't really tell me ya name when we last chatted." Krimp rubbed the back of his head as the Twins flanked him

"We gave you a scroll, and I've been in the media several times." the chair turned around to reveal a heavy-set man with an absolutely immense beard and wild mane of hair obscuring most of his face "I'd appreciate you doing a bit of research before turning up-... who are these two?"

"Just a couple of pals I picked up!" Krimp giggled "They used to work here, ya see. And one of them helped me find this place so I said I'd hook them up with ya!"

Melanie noticed the bearded man's eyebrow twitch as he stood, straightening the sleeves of his dress shirt as he took a calming breath. Frowning, she leaned towards her sister and whispered "Still think you can sleep your way through him?"

"Maybe..." Militia said slowly as she continued evaluating the business owner "He kinda seems... familiar..."

"Krimp, my boss was very open in offering support should you need it." the man said carefully as he walked in front of his desk "His offer does not extend to any friends you procure, there's only so much I can do considering my situation."

"They said they's really desperate for money, though!" Krimp exclaimed before nodding towards the window "And considering how most of these fellows workin' here were desperate when ya found them, I figured you wouldn't mind..."

The bearded man sighed, shaking his head for a moment before Militia suddenly snapped her fingers "Wait, you sound like the guy who kidnapped Jun-"

It was like a switch, at one second the man was standing there with a stern look, the next moment he was sailing forward. Even Krimp hadn't expected it, flinching back as his friend's hands launched forward and yanked the twins up by their throats. Oggie slammed the door shut beside them with his foot as he glared at the girls in his grasp.

"Should've known you'd just have to bring these two in with ya." he grumbled to the startled Uruk, now sounding much rougher than before "Just my luck."

"H-hey sis," Melanie coughed out to her sibling "still worth it?"

"Considering my options." Militia replied

"Wait Oggie-!" Krimp tried to say

"Bigsby, damn it!" the Bearded man shouted "The name is Mr. Bigsby!"

"So that's what they call ya 'round here!" Krimp giggled "Now isn't that a snazzy name, girls?"

Melanie rolled her eyes "Absolutely inspiring." she mumbled before grabbing hold of the arm holding her and swinging her legs up. Mr. Bigsby saw her ploy and leaned his head back, avoiding the tip of her shoe but catching the very tip of her heel in the ear. Twisting her limb carefully, she dug the heel deeper into his ear and made the large man stumble.

Krimp stepped out of the way as his pal stumbled from the door, swinging the girls in his grasp. Militia managed to snatch one of the various Pug pictures from the wall as her sister struggled with the Business Owner. Finally, she managed to work her way out of his grasp and leap away onto his desk,

Mr. Bigsby tightened his fist and growled at the red-themed woman, just as Militia raised the picture frame and slammed it over his head. Things were silent for a moment before Bigsby slowly turned his glare towards her.

The two stared at each other down for a moment before the girl sighed "That was supposed to stun you."

"It didn't." the Bearded Man seethed before raising his free hand.

"Boss," the Masquerader Secretary stepped in with an unfortunate Deer-Faunus trapped in her grasp "this one was trying to spy on-"

She paused upon spying her boss in the midst of a power struggle with a young chick, before sighing and shoving Bebe in as she pulled her scroll out "Don't pay me enough for this shit."

"Wait!" Bebe tried crawling after her, but the Secretary was already lost in her screen as she closed the door behind her "Don't leave me in here with them! Don't-!"

"Bored out there, huh Hybrid?"

Bebe froze before slowly turning to look at Mr. Bigsby, who grumbled before releasing Militia and walking back over to his desk. He yanked the picture frame off him "You tarks and your damned curiosity, never know when to keep to ya fuckin' selves."

"S-sir I wasn't-"

"If you start spewing excuses I'm gonna put my fist through ya goddamned skull." Bigsby bit before glancing to Melanie "Off the desk."

Melanie narrowed her eyes for a moment, "Not gonna go snatching at my throat again, are ya?"

"Get... Off."

Once the girl was out of the way, Bigsby procured a glass and bottle. Melanie inched her way closer to the door "Militia," she whispered towards her sister "let's bounce before- Mil? Mil!"

"So you're an Uruk?" the Red-Themed Twin asked Bigsby as she leaned on his desk "You eat people before?"

"Mil, what the hell are you doing!?"

"Just trying to butter up our employer, obviously." Miltia shrugged

"He was choking us mere seconds ago!"

"Doesn't mean his wallets are any lighter," the youth countered before turning to the business owner "Right, big guy?"

Instead of answering her, Bigsby downed his glass before refilling it "Krimp, how much did you tell them?"

"Just that Pugsy helped me out after me and Brother had our little spat," the Friendly Uruk explained "and how I was told to find you if I ever needed something to do while I recovered!"

"You look healthier than the last time I saw you."

"Externally!" Krimp insisted as he pulled his hood down and rubbed at his head "Still feeling down after hearing 'bout how big brother feels about me. Haven't been helping out as many people as I was before, wanted to see old friends like you, Ogthrak!"

"Code names!" the Disguised Uruk grunted before scoffing and turning to the twins "And where do these two figure into anything?"

"Ya screwed up our last job," Militia pointed out immediately "we're broke now and desperate enough to do anything to get our old gig back."

"The fuck?" Melanie flinched before waving her sibling's statement off "She doesn't speak for both of us!"

"Come on Sis, Uruk or not I don't know a single person who can turn down twins if they act sexy enough."

"I'm not involving myself in this kinda shit!"

Bigsby took another long drink of alcohol as the twins began arguing again, his eyes travelling from the pair to the two other sluggards currently taking up space in his office.

That pissant White Fang Grunt had taken the more acceptable approach of picking a corner as far away from everyone and looking as small as possible. The disguised Uruk could appreciate someone who knew when they weren't wanted. Krimp wasn't having any of it, keeping a modest distance from the terrified Faunus but still openly observing her with curiosity.

He momentarily glanced towards the window, which still pulsed from the music being played outside, before sitting at his desk and pulling up a screen.

As he typed, Bebe tried to ignore the Uruk's gaze. Things had been going well, relatively at least, nobody was focusing on her and the idea of slipping out unscathed seemed like a possibility. But then this big bastard locked his gaze on her, and suddenly the panic rushed to the forefront of her mind once again.

"You smell familiar, lass!" Krimp pointed out "Doesn't make sense, since I can't recall meeting you before. And I remember all o' my friends, guess I didn't get the pleasure, buddy!"

"T-that's great... I... I don't-"

"Ya seem scared, lass. But there's no worry! One of me friends helped me learn a plethora of ways to get closer to all the softskin acquaintances of the world!" Krimp exclaimed before spreading his arms wide "I know how to handle fearful friends, you need a hug!"

"No! That's okay, really!" Bebe shouted as she scrambled to get away, but it was no use. She couldn't even move a foot before she was snapped up by the giant's arms "Wait! I don't-! Oh god!"

Krimp stood tall as the Faunus struggled and thrashed in his arms "Hold on, lady! I know what I'm doing, just gotta get the right grip here-"

His limbs tightened around her, and the panic exploded into full on horror as she felt it harder to breath.

This was it, after fighting for survival surrounded by man-eating murderers she'd end up dying in the arms of a mentally-challenged monster in a trashy night club to the soundtrack of freestyle rap music... Her brother would call her a shame to the entire Fang if he could see her now.

"Now I think I need to get my arm here, now if I squeeze in just the right manner..."

So many things she wanted to do with her life, so many wrongs she should've righted. She never got to see the Faunus revolution, she never got to see her brother after her capture, and she never got to apologize to Uthug for-

And suddenly there was peace...

Bebe ceased her thrashing, letting her limbs hang limp as her panic was practically drowned under a sudden tsunami of pleasant feelings.

"There we go, Buddy." Krimp cooed as he shifted a hand to pat the Deer-Faunus on the head "I give great hugs, eh?"

She didn't respond, instead releasing a number of satisfied sighs as she allowed herself to melt in his embrace.

"Hey Og!" Krimp called over to Bigsby, who had moved to a printer near his desk "You's been seeming more stressed ever since old Pugsy made ya set this whole thing up, ya want me to give you a hug as well?"

"You try to hug me and I sweat to God, Krimp." the Business Owner snarled just as the printer finished its most recent assignment "Here we go."

Several staples later and two packets were slammed loudly on his desk, finally interrupting the arguing twins.

"Contracts," he stated before retrieving his glass and bottle and pouring a drink "I need them studied and signed in case people question your employment."

"Ugh, are you serious?" Militia pouted as she bent low to flip through the contract "Junior never had us sign any stupid contracts."

"Then why aren't you still working for him?" Mr. Bigsby asked as he downed his glass and walked away

"Because you and your asshole friend kidnapped him!" Melanie spat

"We wouldn't have been able to if he knew how to run a Club/Crime Ring properly." he concluded as he stepped near the window and looked down upon the dancing Masqueraders "Besides, I refuse to conduct any forms of public business which I can't legally enforce through contractual obligation."

"Hey, we never said we'd-!"

"Here." Militia offered him the signed contract

"Goddamn it, why?!"

"A: Money's good. B: Do you actually believe that he's gonna let us decline at this point?"

Melanie grimaced before snatching up her own contract and flipping it open "Geez, how goddamn much could some man-eating dipshit really ha-ha-ha..."

As she trailed off, Mr. Bigsby finished off his bottle and placed them on a nearby end table before turning back to them.

"How." Melanie asked

He raised an eyebrow.

"How the hell could you afford this... Any of this?!"

"Proper connections and business sense." He stated before moving back to the desk and taking a seat "Maybe you could show some yourselves by recognizing this income as the proper deterrent it is and accept my offer. You two get prime seats in the soon to be Entertainment center of the world, congratulations."

Melanie sighed, but a quick glance to her sister prompted her to nod.

Mr. Bigsby looked to the side, "Ms. Genteel will be assisting you in acclimating to your roles."

"Do I even want to know who that is?"

He gestured past the twins, and they followed his hand to the Faunus still relaxing in Krimp's hug.

"Bebe _should_ know your soon to be coworkers enough to make a perfect guide." Mr. Bigsby stated

At the sound of her name being spoken, the Faunus finally looked towards them "Hmmm?"

"Maybe being a chaperone will keep you from getting bored and sticking ya fucking nose where it shouldn't be."

Bebe blinked, Krimp's hug now slightly less affective at soothing her now that she realized all eyes were on her "Wait... what?"

"These two will be working with those idiots you drive around," Bigsby grunted as he examined the signed contracts "you get to help them get familiar with each other."

"Wait, I'm sorry. I-" she wiggled a bit before Krimp finally released her "I think I might have missed something-"

"Guess you'll be showing us the works around here, eh kid?" Militia said with a passive shrug

"But I don't-"

"Indeed," her boss interrupted "and the first thing you need taken care of is clothes. If ya haven't noticed, my employees gotta look a certain level of artistically deranged in order to fit in."

Melanie folded her arms "Me and my sis know our clothes."

"Then get to it already ladies."

"B-but I was in the middle of-" Bebe bit her lip as the Twins approached, unwilling to say she was so caught up in a friendly hug that she missed her latest assignment "I mean I was-!"

The Twins each took hold of an arm and dragged her with them out the door.

"Wait, I didn't hear! What did he-?!"

"You guys got some kind of dressing room in here?" Militia interrupted

The moment Krimp closed the door behind them, Bigsby sighed.

"Now what do we do with you?" the disguised Uruk pondered for several long seconds.

"I'm still offering that hug, my boy."

* * *

 _ **Do NOT, let him know I'm here.**_

Uthug hadn't been planning it, instead he tried his best to hold stock still as the Diseased Uruk circled him like a hungry predator.

"It hasn't been long since my unfortunate incarceration," Bubol cooed as his eyes roamed over the informative morsel who wandered into his humble abode "but I still feel as though its been ages since I've seen my beloved little rose. Tell me, is she just as ravishing as she was when last I felt her wondrously sizable weapon slashing me about?"

The Looter didn't respond immediately, still trying to calm his nerves, Gundza didn't take it well.

 _ **The Shrakh are you doing? You need to answer, remain unflinching.**_

With a small breath, Uthug folded his arms as the archer came to a stop in front of him "She and her dumbass friends beat the shrahk out of me while some dipshit exile was controlling my body.

 _ **Excuse me?**_

"Oh! So it seems Gundzie continued his hunt!" Bubol clapped his hands together before drawing closer as his grin stretched wider

Uthug fought hard as he could not to instinctively move back. The Diseased Uruk's sore covered flesh was off-putting enough at a distance, but up close he could almost feel the pus-filled sacks writhing with their grotesque contents.

Bubol searched his expression for a while, humming in thought for a while before pouting and leaning back. He stepped away and walked over to the pile of cloth scraps "Tell me, as I've never had the pleasure of being taken over so thoroughly, how did it feel to have my close friend inside your flesh?"

The Scavenger took a long breath.

 _ **Careful, if he see's that he's upsetting you he'll consider you something to be toyed with, but if you push back too hard he'll consider it a challenge to match.**_

"Meh, I was lucky enough to be unconscious for most of it." Uthug folded his arms as he watched the Sickly Uruk pull a long coat made of various patchwork fabrics from the pile "Only came to right as he ditched me, but your one of your girl's friends punched me into a train before I could do much. The Yellow one, I think."

"Oh dear, seems she found her sister after all." Bubol pouted as he pulled the patchwork coat on and placed his hands on his hips "Gonna be harder to get to her tight little frame once I get out of here, such a pity."

The Archer sighed before standing in silence for a moment, then glanced back to Uthug with a smirk "So tell me, love, how have you been since abandoning my darling little All-Eater?"

Uthug fought to keep from backing up, "You remember me?"

"Of course, once I catch sight of proper meat, I could never forget." Bubol cackled before pointing towards him "And from what I see, you've gotten nice and tender since last you were caught in my gaze."

The Looter grimaced "Don't know why I was surprised." he shook his head "Look, when I got thrown in here I expected to finally stop getting involved in bull crap, but instead I find out ya'll are still killing each other in here too!"

Bubol put his hands in his coat pockets before tilting his head to the side "Oh yes, that would be Felgrat and his tantrum."

"Who?"

Bubol walked past him out of the room, gesturing for him to follow as he continued "We both got picked up at the same time, and let's just say he wasn't in the best of moods. I suggested to the uninspired masses that _'Hey, we have enough globs in here to take this lovely little vessel and convert it to a little pleasure cruise.'_ "

The Diseased Uruk smiled to a nearby Crewmate, who merely grumbled before returning to working on his armor.

"Felsy and I had a bit of a rough patch during our last group project which left him trapped underground, forced to ;eave his own boys for dead before being chewed up and spat out by the Storm. I managed to get off scott free and he never truly forgave me, so he immediately offered a counter: Just blast a way out!"

He turned back to Uthug with a frown "I had already decided where I was gonna put my pleasure pit and the flaying corner, so I couldn't back down on his accord. Next thing I know we's sabotaging each other, getting ourselves locked in this blasted stalemate while other Uruks on the outside get to slash and be slashed by my lover! Its a torment I actually don't enjoy, but I'm sure I can find a way to given some time."

"I don't plan on sticking around this dreg heap for long," Uthug grunted "but it don't look like none of us are getting out of here until one of you takes down the other and puts this damned blood feud to rest."

"Heh, you can try lad but we got each other deadlocked." Bubol gestured around "Here in these tunnels we got all the metal we need, but those bastards up there got all the cookin' supplies locked down. Even grab the shrakh the Atlas lads drop us, my mates been eating raw Uruk for weeks! And we can't even cook it up properly like Felgrat's lads do! I swear they sneak away all the corpses 'round here sooner or later."

"Wait, if the damned dungeon keepers are giving ya food then why ya already eatin' each other instead of trrying harder to nab it first?"

"Pfft," Bubol held back a chuckle "you think these prissy tarks know how to prepare proper meals? They just don't got the protein that well cooked Glob-Meat provides."

The Diseased Uruk cackled at that before turning and making for his little room once more "Glad to have you, lad. Don't go and get that tender form ruined too soon."

Passing by the tormented door guards, Bubol lashed out and snatched one of them by the shoulder before dragging them in with him, "No! Yesterday was my turn, sir! Please! PLEASE!"

Uthug merely grumbled at the display before turning away and looking over the bored-looking Crewmates once again.

 ** _Pitiful. Though I admit I may have overestimated these Chiefless swine. Either too rowdy and non-committal or too brain-dead and idiotic to serve, these fools probably haven't felt the guidance of a true Uruk in ages. And with none other than that madman leading them, no wonder their unproductive minds have no idea how to truly function in a scenario such as this._**

"You do know that we're both Chiefless too, right?" Uthug pointed out as he began walking

 _ **Exiled. Still means I have the true dedication and rigor of a proper soldier, unlike these uncultured filth. You, on the other hand, have simply never known the joy of being made more deadly through subservience to a proper instructor.**_

"I'm just dying from giddiness."

"Who the Shrakh are you talkin' to?!" a nearby Crewmate asked as the Looter passed

 _ **You better check that attitude, we gotta work together if we're gonna whip these sorry slops into a proper Uruk-Hai force. I don't know how well they've got this vessel bugged, so I need you to be my body.**_

Uthug paused, taking a moment to look around at the sad appearance of these usually bloodthirsty creatures.

"Fine, don't really have a choice at this time anyway."

 _ **And stop fucking talking out loud!**_

* * *

 **AN: Here it is, Chapter 13 ready to deflate the mood from the action roller coaster that was last chapter.**

 **I had to do some scene swapping between this and the next chapter in order to improve its flow, but it shouldn't be too noticeable especially considering our current round of subplots. Because of last chapter's excess amount of fight scenes I planned on making these next few ones less combat oriented, at least to build up to the Mistral Regional Tournament.**

 **We finally passed the 300k mark... not even fifteen chapters in. I suppose its an honor to have stuck with a story this long and end up with this much content, so woohoo.**

 **But that's besides the point, let's talk about Zog.**

 **Most people who play Shadow of Mordor or even Shadow of War remember when they first encounter a singer, Uruks who somehow manage to base their entire lives around song despite being bloodthirsty soldiers. It can just come as a shock to the unprepared, which was how it was for me.**

 **I'd met my share of nutcase Uruks by then, but even I was unprepared for when Zog and I first clashed weapons and he sang a heartfelt ballad about how I had no chance of defeating him.**

 **Now Zog is similar to Tuka in that he was by no means a difficult opponent, but his personality and interactions made him enjoyable enough to land him a side character role in this story. From how he'd sing to others to his odd relationship with the Poet, Zog was just too entertaining not to miss after his death.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoy, any and all criticisms positive or negative are welcomed in full so leave a review or comment if you are so inclined to do. Things you enjoyed about it? Things you hated about it? Any ways you feel I could improve? Expectations for the next chapter? Follow or Favorite at your leisure and I will see you all in the next installment of The Dreamer Gate.**

 **Next Chapter: The Poet**


	14. Chapter 14: The Poet

**Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of The Rings, the Middle-Earth universe, Shadow of War/Mordor or RWBY.**

 **This work will contain moments of intense violence, dark and dirty humor, and canonical divergences.**

* * *

 **The Poet**

 _And that's why you shouldn't kill us~_

 _Why we're useful in the end~_

 _That's why you shouldn't kill us~_

 _our new master and friend~!_

Ogthrak bobbed his head to the music, his forehead sweating despite how sure he was of the duo's performance. This was it, he'd been entrusted to unlock their full potential and goddamn it if he didn't pull it straight up from their guts.

Zog and Borgu had absolutely nailed their performance from the first second, dancing and singing before the Grand Shaman like the good little Jesters they were. The Storm Guards posted near the walls couldn't help but eventually join in, as Borgu's beats were just too enticing. Some managed to resist more than others, but soon enough the Master had a proper gang of musical entertainment all to himself. If Ogthrak were perfectly honest, this had actually gone better than anticipated.

His master had always enjoyed his music, most forms of it actually, so much so that Ogthrak had been perfectly prepared when he requested people keep an eye out for his favorite wordsmith. Borgu had been on Ogthrak's mind since before the initial Dreamer Gate Incident, someone of that much value to his master could not be allowed to run a muck and endanger themselves when they could be providing proper entertainment.

So when Maku finally brought in not just the target but another Uruk with a similar fondness for music, the Warmonger had been fully prepared to take advantage. He already had a system in place for when he needed to change work structures on the fly, it was the only way to keep track with his Master's requests. Leaving the globs training under him in the hands of the most capable one amongst them, he had immediately set about getting the two performers in tip top shape for when they were to be presented.

Given the amount of time he had, he needed to be harsh. Zog and Borgu were both chiefless before being brought to him, with unruly behaviors and unsavory practices laced in their blood. He didn't need them to stop being the malcontents they were, as that was one of the things the master seemed to enjoy in Uruks like them, he merely needed to force out their potential in spite of that. Depending on who was asked, this could either mean he was going easy on them or being harsher.

But neither had complaints when the sheer range of their Semblances had been discovered. The power of Vocals and Music had initially confused the Warmonger, as he'd initially made the assumption that these powers were only deigned to aid their users in combat, but in time he came to understand that method of utilization came into play more than he originally anticipated. It wouldn't get in the way of today's performance, and that was all he needed to focus on.

The conclusion was nearing, Ogthrak weaved through the Master's dancing guards towards the singer and the poet as they both reached a spinning crescendo. Finally the song came to a proper, satisfying end as the two gestured towards the Grand Shaman with flair. Sat in a hastily carved stone and metal throne set up deep in the caves they worked within, the Stormbringer had casually clapped to the beat of the duo throughout most of their song, and offered them a small yet meaningful applause once they had finished.

This made Ogthrak worry as he approached, the Grand Shaman had been so insistent on utilizing their musical talent and he'd trained them both harshly. The Warmonger swallowed down his sudden nerves as Borgu and Zog both caught their breaths, the guards who had once been dancing were rubbing at their heads and staring confusedly at each other now that the music had died down a bit.

"As you can see, they've both become adept at using their semblances together." Ogthrak stated as he approached his master and gestured back to the Guards "And I do believe the results speak for themselves. With both this and the proper Grog we've begun producing, I don't believe there'll be any Uruk who could resist joining the cause."

The Grand Shaman tilted his head at that, a bit of blue showing beneath his all encompassing robe. He stared silently at Ogthrak and the performers for a moment before raising a hand towards them.

"Is that...it?"

Almost immediately Ogthrak's black heart began to pound faster, the Warmonger's eyes going wide as he had to stop himself from flinching back, "Master?"

"Its just... we already have... so much to want." Pugrish muttered as he slowly rose from his throne and looked to Borgu and Zog "These two... would be overkill."

Ogthrak choked down the panic as he saw the already dim colors of the bland cave walls around them begin to fade away to a dismal white "But sir, you wanted them so badly I-... I trained them as best I could."

"Oh you trained them well... but what you assume they were to be used for... its far too mundane..." The Grand Shaman continued walking by as the Guards began losing all color as well, eventually falling to ashes as the Stormbringer passed by them "Crafting entertainment for the soldiers within our ranks... is easy... what with all we've managed to acquire..."

Ogthrak moved to follow, but treaded carefully in the shadow the Shaman cast upon the now blank walls around him. But he came to a sudden halt once Pugrish paused to turn back to him, a glint of a smile partially visible within his hood.

"But forging them... into entertainment for tarks..." The Stormbringer offered as the two entertainers began fading to ashes at Ogthrak's sides "Now doesn't that seem... like a far more interesting challenge?"

The Warmonger immediately fell to a kneel "Forgive me my lack of creativity master! Its just... Keeping track of both them and and following the Arceus' movements and the Fang and... those damned Blue Scarves I-"

He paused as the edge of the Shaman's robe entered his vision "Awe... is it too hard for you?" the Shaman's tone sounded odd... off in ways Ogthrak didn't have the time to question.

"No master!" the Warmonger insisted as he looked up into the Shaman's hood, disregarding the crumbling blank cave which revealed the pitch black abyss beyond "I can do it! I shall not shame myself in your presence again! I- I will make them the most entertaining thing those filthy pinkskins have ever-!"

The Stormbringer's hand shot forward and buried several fingers into the larger Uruk's neck before hauling him off the ground.

The Shaman's hood fell as he held Ogthrak above him, revealing a sharp-toothed smile followed by dozens of others which crossed over an excessively deformed lump of meat that constituted a head.

"M-master!?" Ogthrak shoked out even as he felt sharp claws digging into the meat of his throat, he gasped out some blood before latching onto the impostor's arm.

"Just admit it!" the Impostor choked out in a blasphemous imitation of Pugrish's voice as the hundreds of gleaming smiles on its head began laughing violently while the Uruk trapped in its grasp struggled "You'll never pass for anything other than a Bore! Such a simple and stagnant creature!"

While struggling in its grasp, Ogthrak could see the color draining from his own hands as they clawed at the Impostor's, drawing only more mocking laughter from hundreds of voices.

"Ya can't keep up!" the Main voice laughed in that damned imitation "You'll always be a worthless pretender in my eyes! Purposeless and boring... a waste of functioning organs..."

The Impostor finally released Ogthrak, allowing the Warmonger to slip off his claw as the Uruk fell to ashes along with the rest...

...only for him to slam his head on a drawer behind him before he collapsed to the floor.

His eyes shot open as he hands felt the usual bare floor of his office carpet. He slowly blinked before bringing his heavy gaze beside him to find his chair, semi soaked by spilled alcohol.

Ah, exhaustion seemed to get him again.

Grumbling, Ogthrak pulled himself up, fixing the excessive amount of hair he was wearing back into place as he evaluated the damage. The chair seemed to have soaked up quite a bit, it would stain no matter what he did. Turning to his desk, he sighed with relief when he saw that only his glass had tipped. His computer and the rest off the Desk's contents were untouched. He could feel a bit of wetness on his lower pant leg, so he'd have to get that tended to.

Sighing, he picked up his chair and set it properly before grabbing for the still open bottle on his desk. No matter how ratty and tattered those under his employment could look, he himself had to retain an air of professionalism.

After several heavy swigs, the disguised Uruk noticed that music was still playing. He could hear it pounding at the single window he had overlooking the club floor. Seems they were still broadcasting for the day.

Curious, Ogthrak reached for his computer and tapped at several keys.

Soon, he was back at the documents he had been going over before he'd succumbed to sleep. He'd managed to finish typing up papers for the night, but the ones he needed evaluated could wait till morning when he was more certain of his aptitude. Bringing up another program, he viewed several camera feeds showing the Club. There were the usual which the many fans of his programs could view during the streams, but Ogthrak was not one to pass up extra security on an operation this risky.

Flipping through several more private feeds, he eventually stopped when he came to the front entrance. Standing at the entrance was none other than that Faunus weakling nervously fiddling with her clothes as two figures approached.

That was right, the Twins...

Ogthrak sighed as he raised his bottle again.

* * *

"Y-you came back?" Bebe said as she spotted Melanie and Militia approaching.

"Against better judgment, yes." Melanie sighed before glaring at her sister, who was looking herself over with a glum expression.

"Why the hell did we need to pick out shit like this?" the red themed Youth grumbled as she picked at the sleeve of her new digs "Our old costumes were way hotter."

The twins had been contacted since their last arrival, they were tasked with picking get ups from a specific list of match ups that Mr. Bigsby had sent them, and had only been allowed to get them from thrift stores. Militia had initially been mortified, as she'd been keeping her old dress ready just in case they ever got recruited again, but had hunkered down after her sister demanded she rethink their involvement.

As such the Twins were now dressed in semi used casual wear, which they'd only barely managed to get in their proper colors. But as sisters, they had more than enough familiarity with coordinated clothing to make due. Thin jackets over t-shirts with skirts, that was it. The hardest part were their weapons, which had matched their Gothic Lolita dresses perfectly but just seemed odd matched with these get-ups. Those would definitely need remodeling if they were expected to keep showing up like this.

"Screw the clothes, I want to know why he gave us three days to get ready." Melanie grumbled as Bebe opened the front doors and led them in "If we're supposed to be guarding those two assholes then why not have us on the clock immediately?"

"Maybe he just wants us to be thorough with our clothing," Militia shrugged as the doors closed behind them "we get to be eye candy for a much larger audience after all."

"If that was the focus then why the hell did he explicitly tell us to go casual?"

"Oh please, I can make a legion of idiots salivate over me in this."

Melanie rolled her eyes, preparing a snappy comeback when the Faunus girl piped up behind them "It'll probably have something to do with how he plans to keep you."

The duo paused and looked back at her as she caught up.

"Most of the people working here were desperate, either living on the streets or heading there quick. Didn't take much to recruit them, they get a bunch of free living conditions and get pacified by a crap ton of vices he's got just lying around here. But people like you two... he'd want some kind of leverage."

"The hell do you mean?" Melanie stepped closer "We already signed his stupid contract."

"So did I! I mean, he threatened to hand me over to one of his Uruk friends. The guy had a captive he feeds his other captives to! I thought I'd get away after I signed, but the next day I..."

Bebe fidgeted a bit under the glares of the twins, but eventually steeled herself before reach up and moving some of her brown hair out of the way. She turned just a bit to reveal a rather large set of stitches that ran along the back of her head "I woke up with this!"

"The fuck?" Melanie squinted at the wound as Militia walked over to get a closer look

"He must've put an explosive in my head! And if he thinks I'm about to run out on him then-!"

"Hold up hold up." Melanie held out both hands before narrowing her eyes at the faunus "So what you're telling me is that he not only performed a surgical process on you while you slept, but that he somehow managed to hook up a remote explosive somewhere in your brain while only leaving that tiny ass scar?"

Bebe blinked at her, before jerking away as Militia casually poked at the stitches "I asked him about it and he said it was 'Just in case!' He's gonna do something similar to you two!"

Melanie and Militia traded looks for a moment before they sighed simultaneously and continued walking. Bebe stared after them for a moment before scrambling to catch up "I'm serious, you two still have a chance to go before he gets a collar on you!"

"Collars are in right now sooo, meh." Militia shrugged as her sister folded her arms.

"I can buy that he acquired a mini explosive, hell I could even believe he'd found the tools and time for such an operation, but you damn well can't sit there and tell me that he's got the skills of a trained surgeon. Your brain would be a slushy if he ever went in there."

"Well what the hell else could it have been?!"

"Have you ever stopped and considered the possibility that he gave you the stitches and allowed your own fear to keep you locked to him? That maybe he just knew you'd never run out of fear of what he could've done instead of what he actually did?"

"Those two years of high school psychology coming back at an opportune time, eh Mel?" Militia smirked

"Barely, I flunked faster than you would've."

"Please, if I didn't have better things to do that class would've been my bitch and you know it."

"Can either of you focus on not getting explosives stuffed in your skulls?!" Bebe shouted

"Calm down mini-tits." Melanie came to a stop before a large set of double doors "Even if Mr. Bigsby is some kind of secret doctor, me and my sis aren't stupid enough to sleep anywhere near him."

"Depends on how loose his wallet is at the time." Militia commented before pushing the doors open

Melanie gave a deep sigh "Well, at least one of us isn't." she commented before following behind.

They entered the main room of the club, packed full of Masqueraders like the last time they were there. The gaggle of masked idiots were dancing as usual, slowly moving in time with a synthetic love song coming from the center of the dance floor.

Banz spoke several sweet rhymes of eternal love while Rolo's digitized music began dying down, the both of them fairing just as good in that style as any other. Somehow, despite its dilapidated state, the duo's romantic tones gave the club quite the cozy feel. So much so that some of the Masqueraders had even paired up for the specific themes of the song.

With a final, absolutely diabetes-inducing proclamation of love, the song came to an end, and Banz immediately groaned in his regular voice before turning towards a large window high up on one wall "Oi boss, that was the last one for the night right?"

While he waited for an answer, one of the Masqueraders leaned on his back while trying to chug down more alcohol "Aw, what's the fuckin rush big guy?" the inebriated dancer asked as he sloppily tried to fix his rabbit mask "Thought you and bad hair day over there got hard at the thought of making tunes?"

The Clown growled and shoved the drunkard away "Stuff it G.B., professionals like me need their down time else they end up burning up their abilities and turning into talent-less jokes like the rest of you."

"Hey, big guy!"

Banz groaned at the sound of a voice calling him out, and he and the rest of the Staff turned to spot the Twins watching them with passive gazes "Look ladies, as ready and willing as I am to plant my autograph on both of those racks, the work days over. I know ya must've gone through a whole lot of trouble breaking in and everything, but you can get ya complementary facials another time, Bansy needs his goddamn beauty rest."

"Real full of himself, isn't he?" Militia cooed

"Reminds me of someone." Melanie bit before calling out to them "We're not fans, we're you new bodyguards."

The drunk Bunny-masked dancer from before shoved another Masquerader out of the way to point at them "Excuse you, but we're the fuckin' bodyguards around here."

"You imbeciles were hired to keep my club safe."

All eyes went up to the single window, where an unimpressed looking Bigsby was standing with a microphone in hand, his voice echoing through the club's speakers "These two were hired to keep my performers under control."

"Bullshit, I don't need no goddamn bodyguards!" Bans yelled out before pointing at the twins "And certainly none looking like that! On the clock eye candy? Sure. But Bansy don't do bodyguards!"

"Your recent stunt at Penelope's says otherwise." Bigsby snapped "Don't take it the wrong way, I'm sure an egomaniac such as yourself would never get taken down easily. I'm having these two keep you and Rolo from going too far."

"Too far?! That entire ordeal was all his fault!" Bans pointed too a pleased looking Rolo "He goaded me! You know how easy it is to goad me!"

Rolo giggled at his partner's outburst before leaning forward on his odd turntables "Sir, I thought the whole reason for allowing me and my heavyset friend out occasionally was to garner attention?"

"Of the populace not government officials!" Bigsby groaned "Speak trash to nearby girls? Fine. Interrupt an entire establishment's workday just to land yourselves in a fiasco? Most definitely welcome. But getting involved with the heiress to one of the largest companies on the goddamn planet?!"

Bans raised a finger "How is that any different from that oil baron's daughter I tried hitting up yesterday?"

"Schnees are practically conjoined to Atlas's government. A government which, might a remind you, is currently stuffing this entire city to the brim with armed forces!" The Boss sighed before walking away from the window for a moment "But I suppose its my fault for trusting either of you to adapt in a necessary fashion. To be honest I really just needed those two girls in front of you to have something to do, and taking hold of your leashes just so happened to become a requisite in my eyes."

"Well I say we would've been enough!" The Rabbit masquerader shouted

"What Grimm Bunny said," another joined in "I ain't letting no hussies take my job! Its how I got fired from my last place and I'll be damned if history's bout to repeat!"

The others joined as the sound of Bigsby sighing made it through the microphone

"Sir? If I may offer a teensy bit of a suggestion?" Rolo spoke loud enough to quiet the growing mob "They make a good point, what use would the girls be if they weren't able to outclass an entire room of drunkards?"

"Oh goddamnit." Melanie bit as she immediately recognized his suggestion

"What?" her sister shrugged "He makes a fair point."

From above, polished off the rest of his bottle before moving back to his desk. Withe several swift taps he brought the main floor's cameras back online. The stream had already been ended for the day, but that didn't mean he couldn't continue making entertainment for their true viewer.

"I ain't letting no two bit, skirt-flapping, bored as fucking looking bitches snatch a gig as good as this from me!" G.B spat before downing more booze as another Masquerader slid from behind him.

"Yeah! We's gonna mess you up!"

"Isn't it strange that the first thing we have to do as employees is beat up our coworkers?" Melanie asked

"Strange and fun are often inseparable." Militia nudged her before letting her blades extend as the Masqueraders raced forth.

Her sister merely sighed before lunging forth under G.B.'s bottle and slamming into him from behind, sending him flailing into Militia's blades.

"Oh my," Rolo grinned as the twins laid into the Masqueraders "seems they actually got some moves to back them up, lololololol."

"Psh," Banz leaned against his booth with a grumble "anyone could take on a bunch of dumbass vagrants if they's drunk enough. How the hell is this fair!?"

"Perhaps we expected too little of them, hm?" his partner cooed

The Clown took hold of his messy Afro before shaking in anger for a moment, but suddenly getting idea.

As the Masqueraders got tossed about like ragdolls, the Clown suddenly hopped into his partner's odd-shaped booth. Rolo had to lean out of the way as Banz's mass nearly pressed him hard against his setup "What are you-?"

"Start playing damn it! I refuse to get told what to do by a couple o' children!"

Rolo blinked for a second before grinning "Aw, that would be rather entertaining... wouldn't it?"

The Twins had no problems with the Masqueraders, despite their numbers they were just far too sluggish to pose much of a threat against professional bodyguards like them. Most of them went down after several strikes, save for G.B. and one lady in a kitten mask. They still couldn't compare to the twins,. but their Auras were actually stronger than the dancers around them. Either way, Melanie and Militia didn't even have to fight too seriously-

-until the music started.

Techno pop spewed from the speakers set up around the room, making all the Masqueraders pause.

"Don't just stand there!"

They turned to see Banz shouting to them "Get back up and beat these bitches already!"

"Wouldn't music just be distracting for them?" Melanie asked before turning to her sister just to see a broken bottle speeding towards her.

She leaned back only for G.B. to press forth, forcing her to keep sliding back out of his high speed flurry of swings before finally spotting an opening and swing her leg towards him. The second she did, however, another Masquerader sped past the Rabbit-masked dancer and tackled her to the ground.

The second they landed, the Masquerader reared back to slam their skulls together, giving Melanie just the opportunity to punch her in the throat. As she shoved her off, a looming shadow prompted the white-themed youth to duck as another Masquerader swung a bar stool over her head. She buried the tip of her boot into his side and kicked him away as more of the Dancers approached.

What was this? It seemed as if the rest of the vagrants had suddenly gotten more aggressive and... and elaborate. As Melanie caught her breath, she scanned the approaching Masqueraders and realized that they were all bobbing and moving to the beat now emanating from the speakers.

Her attention shot towards the two entertainers, Rolo sped up the tunes just as G.B. sped to the front of the pack and swiped at her again.

As she dodged the sharp glass, she glanced over to find her sister in a similar bind. That kitten-masked assailant had gotten hold of a long piece of pipe and was now using it to twist and swing past Militia's slashes with near-perfect coordination.

"Shut off that damn music!" Melanie shouted as G.B. performed a rhythmically fluid flurry of slashes to the beat "Its making them... better somehow!"

"But sweet child, I'm merely playing some enjoyable tunes." Rolo defended before shrugging "Not my fault everything moves better with a little rhythm in them."

The white themed youth gritted her teeth as Grimm Bunny slipped back out of her reach once the song slowed down, only for three Masqueraders to take his place as the chorus started.

"Bigsby!" she shouted up towards the window above

"You're tasked with keeping these two under control." the Business Owner's clear tone reached her "It would be a shame if you couldn't perform."

Melanie held back a curse as she dove into the Masqueraders and knocked two of them away with a quick spin of the leg, the third managed to duck under and began swiping at her with a thick length of wood.

"Militia!" she called out to her sister whilst kicking her assailant in the back of the leg and promptly flooring him "We got to get rid of that music!"

But she found she found her sibling to be quite distracted by the sexually charged attack methods of the pole toting Masquerader.

"Mil!"

"Dear god," Militia commented as she swiped at the Masquerader, pausing to deflect several jabs of the pole "how did you learn to swing like that?"

"Stripped straight out of school." her assailant replied politely as she twirled about her pole to dodge and dance around Militia "Boyfriend and I needed drug money, thank you for asking!"

"Stop chatting and brain the bitch!" G.B. shouted before turning just to catch a heel to the face which sent him rolling away.

Melanie released a breath as she stood and shot her sister a glare "You. Me. Stopping the music. Now!"

"But sis, its like we're fighting in a music video!" Militia pointed out as she ducked under several swings to come up at her sister's side "Can't we take a minute to appreciate this flash choreography?"

She gestured around them to the dancers, only for Melanie to sigh "They're surrounding us!"

"I know, pretty cool looking eh?"

Militia gestured towards the dancers just as her sister grabbed hold of her wrist and spun her towards several Masqueraders standing between them and the performers. Seeing her off balance, the vagrants rushed her only for their target to drop to her knees and swiped at their exposed abdomens. Before they could stumble back, Melanie grabbed hold of her shoulder and swung her legs up to clock the stunned assailants across their faces.

Banz went bug eyed as she saw the Twins recuperate and immediately take off for them, "Aw hell no!" He shouted before taking hold of another odd piece of metal protruding from Rolo's set up and tearing it free.

Melanie raised an eyebrow as the Singer hopped back out of the DJ's booth while spinning the metal in his hand "What is that?"

"Oh just a microphone we got for the big guy." Rolo commented as the music headed towards another crescendo

But as Banz raised it between them, Melanie realized it wasn't just a microphone. Below the mic was what almost looked like a piece of an amplifi-

"Split!" she shouted just as Banz took a deep breath

The Twins suddenly darted in opposite directions as Banz let loose a powerful shout which quite literally threw several pursuing Masqueraders off their feet.

Banz hadn't expected them to react so accordingly, and found himself stumbling back while he tried to keep track of both of them while the dancers raced to catch up.

"Hurry up and get over ya slow pieces of-" he shouted towards the masqueraders before Militia suddenly slipped past him whilst raking her claws along his aura. The Singer panicked and quickly slammed down his fist, only for her to dodge out of the way and swipe him across the face.

"Makin' you look like a chump my boy." Rolo pointed out "Aren't you supposed to be the soldier?"

Militia was about to continue her assault when Banz suddenly snapped up and turned to his partner "I'm sorry!" he said in a completely different voice "I'm used to havin' a shield on me."

The voice change was oddly different enough to distract Militia long enough for the Cat-themed Masquerader to catch up, and once she began to counter the swings of the pole Banz seemed to realize his mistake.

"I mean..." the Singer shook his head before adopting his regular voice and snarling "I know what the fuck I'm doing damn it, keep an eye on the other one!"

Rolo blinked at that before realizing he hadn't spotted Melanie since she and her sister dodged Banz's initial attack. He swung around only to catch a flying kick to the face and was launched from his booth immediately. The Musician landed hard on his side, immediately groaning and rolling on his back, but before he could push himself up a white boot planted itself firmly on his chest.

He gave a somewhat pained grin as he looked up to the pissed young woman pinning him down. He his hands up as the music he produced began quieting down "I get it, lolololol, truly I do! Never was much of a fighter, honest!"

Melanie narrowed her glare before a string of curses brought her attention to her sister. As soon as Rolo was ripped from his booth, the music quite spewing from the speakers. As a result, the Masqueraders lost their rhythm, and many began falling or halting as exhaustion hit them. Without the beat, Militia had easily disarmed the Cat-Based Masquerader and was now using her pole to choke Banz from behind until the singer fell to one knee and raising a hand "Fuck sake's I give, I give goddamn it!"

As soon as the singer stopped struggling, Militia shot her sister a grin "Fun right?"

Before Melanie could scold her, the sound of approaching clapping brought everyone's attention to Bigsby, who slowly applauded them as he drew near "Good show, good show." he said before glancing to the exhausted entertainers "That's a wrap for the day, people."

"Does this mean I have to go back to my alley?" the cat-masquerader questioned as she shakily rose to her feet

"Damn girls," G.B groaned "stealing people's jobs and-"

"No, you aren't fired." Mr. Bigsby stated with a groan "I told you from the beginning that you guys defend the building, these two are supposed to keep my entertainers from making too much of a scene."

"But I love making scenes!" Banz shouted, only to shrivel under his boss's glare.

The Owner snapped his fingers before looking at both the entertainers and the twins "You four are coming with me."

Seconds later the five stood in one of the adjacent halls as Mr. Bigsby offered Melanie and Militia matching little Mirror Masks.

"Here, from now on you two are the Mirror Twins Crimson and Frozen." he stated before glancing off to the side in thought "Although, given how are fans act online I'm sure they'll shorten them to Crim and Frozie or something by your third appearance."

"That's it?" Melanie frowned at the reflective face wear "We battle our way through your entire cast for a couple of cheap pieces of plastic?"

"I think you two did right fine for tarks!" Banz pointed out in that extremely unfitting voice once more, making Militia turn on him

"What is that? You did that out there while we were fighting too."

"Just another of my companion's unfortunate slip-ups." Rolo sighed before smirking at her "Given the assignment our benevolent employer has assigned to you, I assume you know of our true origins?"

"You two are supposed to be more of those otherworldly fantasy monsters like your boss, right?"

"Indeed, my name is Borgu the Poet while my friend is Zog the Singer. And unfortunately for him his genuine voice is just too much of a dead give away. At least, that's how our employer put it."

It was true, neither Melanie nor Militia had thought too much of their voices while they were fighting. Borgu's voice was odd, but the entire Rolo character he was playing seemed odd enough for it to fit. Zog on the other hand sounded way too much like he was just waiting for a good farming village to pillage.

"And yet for some reason he ended up using it while he was supposed to be in character." Bigsby grumbled "This is why I need you two to keep track of them, Borgu was a performer even before we got a hold of him but Zog here's got too many chances to fuck it all up and god knows neither of them are gonna think to hold back when out there."

"Are we gonna have to keep throwing down with the posse out there?" Melanie grumbled "Because if so I may just have to quit here and now and just turn you all in."

"Oh come on," her sister rolled her eyes "like you weren't having fun out there."

"And neither of you could really go to the police anyway since your minimum would be three years." Mr. Bigsby pointed out casually

Both of them paused in the growing argument to watch as the disguised Uruk pulled out a flask and downed some alcohol "Excuse me?

"The stuff ya did when Junior worked here, found tons of records of it when I took this place." He capped the flask again before gesturing towards them "Now I don't really have any use for it, but if I were to be taken in now while Atlas is busy infesting the city then they'll no doubt tear this place apart to see if I've hidden any portals anywhere. Can't really fault them for taking you two in once they find out just how deeply invested you were in Junior's deals."

"B-but Junior never kept any records!" Melanie spat

"Correction, he never kept good records, doesn't mean they won't hold up in court." Bigsby shrugged before turning and walking off "Shouldn't really matter to you two anyway, this doesn't even affect you as long as I don't get locked up."

As the Disguised Uruk walked off, Melanie fought to keep from grinding her teeth. Had... had they just gotten blackmailed?

A hand on her arm made her turn her silent glare on a certain deer faunus who managed to sneak up on her while she was fuming "I told you."

Melanie's glare tightened a bit until she finally sighed, she turned back and watched as the Disguised Uruk turned a corner and disappeared from her vision "Fine, I'll admit he's far smarter than I initially gave him credit for."

The moment Bebe began smiling, Melanie was quick to shut her down "However, that doesn't mean I'm willing to believe he put an explosive in your head."

"But-!"

"If anything, its probably just a tracker of some sort."

The faunus paused at that.

"I'd question why he didn't just slap some collar on you and have you claim it was a fashion statement, but I'm even more convinced now that he'd anticipate your fear of the unknown to keep you quiet." she raised her new mask and tried it on for a second "Of course, I don't really see why he'd go through so much for you."

"Ah, I can answer that one!" Zog chuckled before walking over and patting Bebe on the head, much to her disdain "This one here was travelling companions with me and Borgu for a while!"

"More like you kidnapped me while I was defenseless!"

"Same thing, anyway since we was working with Ogthrak on this whole music gig, I assume she got dragged in since we was old time pals!"

"Don't call us that!" Bebe insisted

"Ya went to my dear late Gretchen's funeral," Borgu said wistfully as he stared at the wall in thought "Don't pretend like it didn't mean anything to you, might disturb her slumbering ghost."

While Zog chuckled at the Deer-Faunus' expense, Melanie scoffed at the odd way the mask hugged her face.

"Goddamn this thing feels cheap." she mumbled suddenly

"Boss knows where and when to cut corners." Zog pointed out as he scratched his head "Unlike the drunkards we got stumbling around this place, me and Borgu actually did get our things from one o' them cheap thrift stores."

"The Masqueraders?" Militia raised an eyebrow "But they look like they got their clothes out of the dump, how are they better than yours?"

"Because they're genuine." Borgu leaned against a nearby wall "Every piece of fancy shmancy clothes they wear may seem like garbage, but they were all once owned by Atlas elite."

That caused Melanie to turn around "Excuse me?"

"Oh yes, see apparently the boss found out just how much expensive clothes them top tier tarks from the good ol nation o' the north tosses, and immediately had someone ship a shrakh ton to him. I think its supposed to be symbolic or something? Dressing a bunch of homeless rejects in tarnished attire once worn by the elite."

"So you're telling me that Bigsby's a poet at heart?"

"Probably just did it to entice the Master, stick around for a while and ya realize that the Master is the focal point for literally everything old Oggie's ever done." Zog explained while tugging at his clown hair "These ridiculous get-ups,odd as hell operation and damn near unfathomable facade are all to keep the master entertained."

"I damn well better get an _actual_ explanation soon, who could possibly be so important that he'd go through all this for him?"

Borgu and Zog gave each other a look for a moment, the smaller one shrugged before catching sight of Bebe, who seemed to have gone quiet at the mention of the Shaman.

"Pugrish Stormbringer, Grand Shaman and the deadliest Uruk you'll find for miles." Borgu listed off as he walked over to Bebe and wrapped an arm around her "Just ask this little tark, seems she's met the big guy himself."

"Get off me!" Bebe slipped away from him, crossing her arms and looking away as she sighed "And I don't know what I saw. At first he just looked like a creepy guy in robes but... but under the hood..."

"Was he hot?" Militia asked

Everyone turned to her, "Excuse me?" he sister scowled

"I'm just saying, if he's such a big deal that Bigsby's willing to bend backwards for him then maybe I've been trying to seduce the wrong fantasy monster."

Zog physically shivered in disgust while Borgu snickered, but Bebe merely groaned "Look, let's not talk about that thing!"

"Thing?" Militia tilted her head "You've seen his thing?"

Bebe caught herself before she could fall into the red twin's trap, and merely took a deep breath before pointing towards her head "We were talking about the thing that got stuffed into my head?"

"Oh just get it removed already." Melanie waved off her worries "There's tons of back alley doctors who'll go looking through your head for pennies around here."

"But what if they fuck it up!? What if Bigsby finds out?!" Bebe stammered before pointing to the two disguised Uruks "What if these two go running to him right now and-"

"Not happening," Borgu waved off her concern "I don't think me or the big guy are gonna be saying anything about your little escape attempt."

As the two Uruks began giggling to each other, the Faunus turned to them "You... you aren't?" she asked before swallowing and clasping her hands together "Is it because you two hold some type of camaraderie with me because of our past-"

"Nope." Zog interrupted

"Absolutely not," Borgu agreed as he patted his partner on the shoulder before pointing to her "its just that you have literally no chance of doing anything of the sort without the boss finding out."

The Faunus blinked at that for a moment before her scowl returned "Excuse me?!"

"From how you described your time with Old Hork and Tugog, you are an absolute walking disaster. If the boss really did put a bomb thing in ya head you's more likely to set it off ya'self before he ever has the chance to."

"That was then! This is now, I'm in a city where you guys don't hold all the power!"

"And yet we both know you's gonna find a way to screw ya self over." Zog chortled, before placing a hand to his chest

"Face it tark! _You are an absolute complete disaster~! Crushed beneath the heel of the master~! And don't we know that you ain't getting out from under that heel soon~!"_

"Did he just break into song?" Melanie asked her sister, who was equally dumbfounded by the sudden showtune as Borgu joined in.

 _"You're an absolute complete disaster! Digging your own grave faster and faster! And not a thing you try in your lifetime will end up being a boon!"_

"Both of you weren't even there!" Bebe insisted as the two Uruks quickly congratulated each other for their quick wordings "You don't understand what I want through there!"

 _"And give us one reason why we should care~!"_ Borgu gestured to her

"Its hard to think when you guys refuse to talk normally!"

"Or maybe its hard trying to recount your experiences in a way that doesn't make you seem like the brain-dead little hybrid you are?" Zog offered before whispering to the Poet _"I don't rightly know how one can lower the bar so far~!"_

"Were they like this when you last traveled with them?" Melanie asked, eye twitching as the two entertainers traded in their new age celebrity tunes for old timey drinking songs.

"Yes, and I just now remember how ungodly annoying it is to try and converse with idiots who can't stop fucking singing!" the Faunus bit as Militia pushed past her

"Oh come now, they're just pointing out how incredibly stupid your plan is." the red-themed youth cooed as she came to a stop between the Faunus and the Uruks "I mean, they have a point."

"Don't you dare take their side," Melanie rolled her eyes before glancing to the Faunus "Look, all you need to do is leave the building and just evade the boss until you can find someone who can cut thing out. And beside you're apparently valuable enough to stick a tracker in, what's the worst he could do if he catches you?"

At that, Bebe went stock still as memories jumped to the forefront of her mind.

Melanie waved her hand in front of Bebe's face several times, the Faunus seemed frozen whilst staring blankly ahead. The white themed youth groaned, she'd never even managed to answer her question. Fed up with the now statuesque Bebe, Melanie turned to find the Uruks laughing at the Faunus along with her sister to a lesser extent.

"Look what you assholes did! You fucking broke her." Melanie pointed out

"The realization of what she's gonna have to go through in order to avail her concerns is probably what did it." Borgu pointed out "Watching this lass stumble about trying to get away's gonna be grand I tell's ya."

He and Zog shared a look before the duo resumed singing:

 _And while she fails to attain the freedom for which she strives~_

 _We'll share a toast while bossy burns her alive~!_

 _And as we get plastered in this filthy little dive~_

The duo paused before both turned to Militia, who looked between the two before inquisitively pointing towards herself. When the entertainers nodded, she sighed, but after a while gave a half-hearted _"We'll sit back and wonder why she ever hoped to survive~?"_

Borgu and Zog looked at each other before giving nods and patting the young woman on the back.

Melanie could almost feel a snarl working its way up her throat as she glared at her sister "Militia I swear if you start doing that at home you are fucking dead to me."

* * *

 _ **The Arceus...**_

 _If you think I'm just gonna break my hand on a solid metal door just because you asked, you must be absolutely brain-dead._

Uthug could practically feel Gundza groaning inside his head as he looked over the oddly contorted door which no doubt was supposed to be opened at one point.

They were in the main body of the ship, not too far off from some of those would-be stores that made up the majority of the Arceus's center. After several days of goading, Gundza had finally convinced Uthug to leave the safety of Bubol's territory to go scouting for possible venues of escape. They'd had several stops, mainly due to several unaffiliated inmates thinking the warrior wold be easy pickings since he was alone, but they'd eventually managed to find several doors near the upper parts of the ship like this one.

It seemed like it was supposed to open with a wheel-like contraption, but the wheel had been removed and most of the door had been seared shut and bolted over.

Gundza had immediately identified it as a rushed method of sealing them off from any higher points of the ship, and had suggested finding a way into the ship's air ducts. Even after getting Uthug to crawl into one, they found a similar problem in that many pathways were either sealed up or unreachable. there were even some other inmates hiding there, which Uthug had to deal with.

All in all, the Looter's steady increase in complaints could be understood by many, but that didn't really matter to the shadow inside him.

 _ **Look, if this is how they're keeping us confined to the lower decks then I need to get a feel for just how thick it may be. You don't have to go hammering, just a few pats here and there!**_

 _And what if these Atlas folk got some kind of defense systems?_

Uthug glanced around to several splotches of dry black blood which seemed far too close to the door for his comfort.

 ** _The Caterers spend most of their time up here slaughtering anyone who doesn't join them for food, I'd be willing to bet this was there handiwork._**

 _Bet? So there's still a chance that some kinda gun's gonna pop out and mow me down soon as I touch this thing?_

 _ **There's a chance the bloody shaman himself is on the other side of this thing going at it with a Grimm! There's a chance for literally anything now quit pissing ya'self and touch the damn thing!**_

Grumbling, Uthug complied. He approached slowly and placed his hand against the contorted door, but once nothing happened he gave it several more pats.

 _There, am I done here?_

 _ **Odd, I expected them to have more security than that.**_

 _So you did expect something and still made me do it?!_

 _ **Quit your belly-aching, you can leave now.**_

Uthug rolled his eyes before turning and walking from the door. Being back on the upper deck still felt odd, he may have allowed himself to get familiar with the constant presence of allies no matter how annoying they were. The lack of complaining and clacking metal was near maddening, but at least it was better than when Gundza started yapping.

 _ **I'd say if a good number of Uruks went at that door with heavy arms they'd be able to break it down in about half an hour, nowhere near as quick as necessary.**_

 _Why does it even matter how long it'd take them to get through? I thought that the whole point of helping that lunatic friend of yours fight the Caterers was that nothing could stop us if everybody quits fighting and worked together._

 _ **We're stopping the Caterers because they seem deadset on interrupting any escape attempts we may plan, the issue of how long our escape would take is a whole other thing. I want you to ask yourself, why exactly do you believe these tarks made a ship into our prison?**_

Uthug paused, folding his arms for a moment as he left the hall and entered another large open section of stores and stalled escalators. Gundza called these parts shopping centers, but in their unfinished state they looked like any old ruins to the looter.

 _I thought you said it was convenient for them, this place was partially built already so converting it into something else was simple for them._

 ** _Yes, but Atlas is known for nothing if not its overwhelming construction output. They have a number of locations they could've turned into a prison, and yet they took what was to be a playground for the elite and used that instead._**

 _If you're going to make a point then make it, enough with this beating around the bush business_.

 _ **A ship is able to move between the nations and have the vast quantities of space necessary for numbers such as our. Its also far more easy to destroy than a prison on land.**_

Uthug blinked at that, _What?_

 _ **A well-designed ship can easily be used to pick up inmates from all corners of the world, it just happens that this one functions doubly as a massive execution chamber for all of us.**_

When Uthug didn't immediately respond, the Shadow continued.

 _ **I spent some time inside an Atlesian's mind, and while he was fairly defensive with his minds secrets I was able to gleam some information about this place in particular. I just never thought I'd need it until I ended up stuck in here with you.**_

 _Which was your fault of course._

 _ **ANYWAY...ahem, this ship is designed to keep us all locked down here but its also designed to activate a sinking process should the Wardens feel as if they've lost control. Its not instantaneous as the Skeleton crew that's running this place does have time to escape, but by the time we'd break down one of those doors there'd be no way to save ourselves from the ocean's cruelty.**_

Uthug growled at this revelation before looking up to the top of the shopping center, where sunlight streamed in through a plane of glass on the ceiling.

 _What about those? All these Shopping center things have windows like that and-_

 _ **I saw glass like that on several Atlesian war machines during my time at Vale, I assure you it would take far longer to bust down that than it would the door, especially at what angle its at. We would need far more than the hand-made weaponry we've got to get through that.**_

 _Well what about the explosives? Bubol and his lot said the Caterers keep trying to blast their way out, we'll just nik it from em._

 _ **Which would necessitate acquiring it from them, and since I doubt they'd make it easy we'd still need to contest with them in the end.**_

Uthug placed his head in his hands and groaned, as he did he spotted movement from the ground floor of the center. An inmate tried to run from one store to another when his leg got caught in a trap which immediately sent him sprawling to the floor.

He hollered like a madman for several seconds before several Caterers raced out of nearby passages. Several approached, but the inmate swung at them wildly with his bare hands until the gang finally rushed in and hauled him off.

 _Damn it, why can't these loons make it easy for me? I don't understand! All they need to do is blast upwards instead of downwards and we'd be on the same page!_

 _ **Tark ships don't work like ours, ya glob. Lot more systems in place, setting off explosives almost anywhere could cause a chain reaction. But you make a fair point, its actually something I've been thinking of as well.**_

Uthug leaned back and began walking along the storefront, looking over the many possible weapons he could pry from the structure as Gundza continued.

 _ **Several things about the Caterers are unclear to me, especially given how well they've apparently done for themselves. Most grunts are idiots through and through, needing leaders of exceptional intelligence and moxy to make up for the brains they don't have.**_

 _Gee, thanks for the stunning compliments there pal._

 _ **Don't get sentimental on me! My point is that even with how lazily Bubol's been taking this, the fact that the Caterer leaders are still smart enough to counter him means they should know better than to just start blasting this whole place apart. Something don't sit well with me, and I aim to figure it out first and foremost.**_

 _Let's focus on one thing at a time,_ Uthug thought as he scanned the lower deck from above _Any Idea how we're gonna take these guys down? You insist Bubol's still capable despite his blatant insanity, how are we gonna do what he couldn't?_

 _ **I merely stated that he can impress when he wants to, and he's clearly not taking this whole gang war as seriously as he should. He's having too much fun with things as they are, he's got a habit of procrastinating when he's entertained. We need to get the ball rolling-**_

Both the Shadow and Host paused when roars and clashes of weapons rang out from somewhere.

 _ **And perhaps whatever that was could help us build momentum, investigate!**_

 _No need to yell._ Uthug grumbled to himself before jogging in the direction of the sounds.

He slowed down when he noticed something unexpected on the ground floor below. A small group of Bubol's Crew were finishing fending off several other inmates. It was odd, they hardly ever came up here due to the Caterers constantly ambushing them. Not only that, the moment their opponents were fleeing the Crewmates turned and began arguing with each other while gesturing to their surroundings.

"-there's only so many places they could've taken him, we need to move!" One Uthug recognized as Galkar shouted

"You know what happens to scouts around here, he can handle himself." another waved it off while tapping a large mace against the floor

"They had him bound!" Galkar tried again

"So?" another Crewmate shrugged "I once saw him beat two globs to death with nothing but his pelvis, he'll be fine."

"But-!" Galkar prepared to lambaste his cohorts when the sound of something landing behind him made him lunge away as he turned to find Uthug rising "You!"

"Looks like you lazy bastards finally decided to come crawling out of your hidey hole, eh?" the Looter asked as he folded his arms "What's the occasion?"

"Boss is gone." the Mace-wielder stated

Uthug blinked "What?"

"Nabbed, bound, hauled off by Caterers." Another explained

"What the Shrakh?! I was gone two hours! Were we attacked?!"

 _ **Even if we were, I don't understand how those cannibalistic fools could've nabbed someone as slippery as Bubol.**_

"No no, none of that."

"What, did they sneak in?"

 _ **Bubol is far too perceptive for any old goon to sneak up on.**_

"No, they never even got near our territory." Galkar rubbed at his head

"Well how in the Dark Lord's name did they manage to not only subdue the boss, but also run off with him!?"

"Oh uh, see I think they figured out that the Diseased was having eyes for one of their boys, so they had him send a letter of confession."

Uthug stared at Galkar for five long seconds, his body practically frozen as his mind worked to catch up with the revelation until "What?"

"Yeah, so the Boss read it and got this really hungry look in his eye before flying off to meet up with the guy. He was so quick that we were the only ones who saw him bookin' it. We caught up with him just in time to see them hauling him away."

"WHAT?!"

"We followed them up here, but then this gang of pushovers tried jumping us while's we was distracted. Now we don't know where they took him!"

"A damned love letter was all it took?!"

 ** _Yeah... sounds about right._**

Uthug was fuming, he jabbed a finger in Galkar's direction "How the sweet black hell could you let them get away?!"

"Oi, you try running in this stuff!" the Mace-Wielder patted his armor "Ain't quite that easy ya glob!"

"Then why didn't you just take the armor off!?"

"And leave ourselves exposed to whatever those cheap-shot taking cooks throws at us?"

Uthug threw his arms up in the air and turned away "You're all useless!"

 _ **They're chiefless, I don't understand how you had any hope for them in the first place.**_

 _That's not an excuse! I was chiefless!_

 _ **And look how great you turned out. Look, we need to find Bubol before those explosion-crazed slaughterers do away with him. As manic as he can be he's the only thing keeping those Idiot Crewmates of his together.**_

Uthug glanced back to find said idiots already arguing with each other about whether to go looking for their leader or not. The looter grimaced at their incompetency for a moment before muttering "Where would they even take him?"

 _ **Think logically here. He's one of the most dangerous blokes on-board who they only managed to catch through exploiting his unending lust, they'd have to take him somewhere close so they could bind him properly. No matter how blast-crazed they are they'd have to be truly brain dead to not slap better restraints on him of all people.**_

 _That still doesn't-...wait._

Uthug took off, retracting his steps until he came to the place he saw the one inmate get caught in that trap.

 ** _Starting to use your brain, eh?_**

 _It had been right here, hadn't it?_ Uthug kneeled and tapped two fingers to where the trap had been before slowly looking over to where the Caterers had dragged the inmate off.

 _ **Probably a slaughterhouse around here, what do you want to bet that our dimwitted pervert's been taken there?**_

Uthug grimaced, _You've known this guy since he was back with Hork, how often does he need bailing out of shrahk like this?_

 _ **He's capable as hell, trust me. Just... make sure to keep that schedule clear... just in case.**_

* * *

 **The City of Vale**

"-and after you're finished with your modifications we should talk about next semester's check-up project." Weiss finished as she stopped outside a weapon's shop to check her scroll.

Following behind her was a somewhat disheartened Ruby carrying a bag. Inside was a number of awesome little doo-hickeys which she was planning on hooking up to her pride and joy, Crescent Rose, later today. That alone would usually have the little reaper whooping and hollering with enthusiasm, but the reminder of what Weiss had planned afterward was more than enough to put a damper on her growing spirits.

The heiress had actually conceded to Ruby's suggestion for a partner's day out, but only on the grounds that they get productive. With their plans for the tournament nullified by Blake's condition, the Schnee had immediately set out to fill up all the free time they now had. Ruby had underestimated her partner's planning, for already the residential Ice Queen was planning for next semester's eventual workload.

"Wait," Ruby paused beside her partner "they didn't announce a project for next semester."

"But they'll want to make sure we haven't allowed any of our skills to falter between sessions." Weiss answered immediately "Whether a test or a project, we will be prepared for it."

Ruby sighed, knowing that her teammate was right. They'd done something similar at the beginning of the last semester, and even if they didn't do the same thing now she knew that Weiss wouldn't give them a chance to catch them off guard.

"But shouldn't we wait for Blake to get better so we can all discuss it?" Ruby asked as Weiss continued walking "I mean, it sounds like its just gonna be setting up our training schedule for the break and-"

She bumped into Weiss who had stopped walking suddenly.

"Sorry!" Ruby said quickly, before realizing that Weiss was being distracted by something across the street "What are you..?"

Several civilians seemed to be standing around a display case where several TV screens were showing the Vale News Network. It was too far away to hear, but Ruby could see several panning images of Amity Colosseum followed by pictures of the teams competing in the approaching tournament.

Ruby looked from the screens to Weiss several times before hefting the bag in her hands and bumping the Heiress with her hip "Think Pyrhha's gonna take home the gold again?"

After a moment, Weiss sighed before shrugging "She's a safe bet, but you can never tell with how many new contestants popped up this time around."

Hearing the lackluster tone in her friend's voice, Ruby tapped at the ground with her boot a bit "Wanna talk about it?"

"I'm not mad at her."

Ruby perked up at the sudden turnabout, and Weiss rolled her eyes before continuing along the sidewalk "I know that's what you were going to ask, but I'm not mad at Blake."

"Was I really that transparent?" Ruby glanced away before following behind her partner

"Like a freshly waxed window." Weiss gave her a small smile before frowning "But in answer to your question I'm more agitated that we're doing this again."

"Doing what?"

"We're having another hard run on the Blake-Yang cycle, and since we've already been here you may understand my annoyance."

"You named a cycle after Blake and my Sister?"

"It was initially going to just be called the Blake cycle, but Yang's connection with her partner necessitated a bit of an alteration." Weiss put her scroll away and folded her arms "This'll be the third or fourth time Blake's closed herself off with brooding self reflection, I'm still considering the time after Yires but you get the point. I've come to recognize and accept her odd method of dealing with emotions, and have even come to terms with how much value she places on Yang's input, but the fact that I am still not able to garner enough of her trust to even be considered in the same realm as your sibling is... vexing."

"But I don't have the same relationship with her that Yang does, doesn't mean we don't look out for each other when the going get's tough!" Ruby smiled wide as the Heiress sighed

"I'm not talking about in the field Ruby." Weiss scowled for a moment before gesturing to herself "As you know, I may not be the most well versed in companionship."

"Understatement of the century."

"However," Weiss bit "I want you and the rest of our team to feel comfortable with asking my help for... things... personal stuff that may be happening in your lives and such."

Ruby blinked once... then twice, then let the bag slip from her grasp down to the ground as she raised both of her hands to cheeks "Weiss... are you... asking to emotionally bond with us more!?"

"I mean-!" Weiss looked away for a moment "As teammates that shouldn't be such a surprise right-ack!"

The Heiress was cut off by her partner lunging forth and wrapping her up in her arms "That is so cute!"

"Ruby would you- just!" the heiress struggled "Let me go!"

Though nowhere as soul-crushing as one of Yang's, Weiss found Ruby's hug to be far too tight and intimate for her liking. And though she didn't want to come off as stand-offish, Weiss was not one for overtly public shows of affection. So the moment Ruby's arms loosened she immediately slipped out of her partner's grasp.

Ruby didn't let Weiss's hasty retreat impede the growing smile which had blossomed on her face, instead she picked up her bag of weapon mods with a flurry "Don't you worry Weiss! As soon as we're done with this I'll call Yang up and we can have a true heart to heart!"

"If it leads to Yang following your example then I may have to reconsider." Weiss grunted as she straightened out her clothes

"What?" Ruby snickered "Don't like my hugs?"

"Maybe she would find mine more favorable?"

Weiss shook her head "No Penny, that's not the issue at-"

The Heiress froze mid-sentence before whipping around, only to find a pair of bright green eyes waiting for her.

Weiss lunged back as Penny stood straight, sailing right into her thankfully prepared teammate. Penny giggled at the two of them as she placed both hands on her hips and cocked her head "Pleasure to see you again, Ruby my friend! And Weiss, it is always good to see you in such a lively state!"

"Penny?" Ruby blinked as Weiss stepped away

"How did you sneak up on us like-?" Weiss began before sighing "You know what? Forget it."

After seeing a mammoth like Krimp slip away like a sandy wisp, her suspension of disbelief when it came to things like stealth was shot to hell.

"It feels like forever, Penny!" Ruby exclaimed "I was certain I wouldn't see you at least until the Tournament."

"Things might have gone that way had I not found proper motivation!" Penny explained before glancing to Weiss and smiling "But now I'm happy to say that I have acquired more companions than I ever would have before hand! Which reminds me."

Weiss blinked as Penny approached, almost instantly the taller girl gestured to herself grandly "I am very sorry for not spending as much time with you as I could have, Weiss Schnee. I was perhaps too focused on gaining the friendship of your partner to act in a... suitably welcoming manner to you."

"What... what exactly are you doing?"

"This is part of my routine!" Penny exclaimed whilst tapping two of her fingers together "Of course, I changed it a bit since we've already been acquainted, Weiss, I hope you don't mind if I skipped some parts."

"Wait," Ruby pointed to her "is this how you've been getting these new companions of yours?"

"Yessiree Ruby old pal!" the android gave her a thumbs up "A blatant introduction coupled with a forward yet positive tone and expression is sure to elicit a positive response in four out of seven people!"

"Sounds so mechanical when you say it like that." Weiss pointed out, causing Penny to halt for a second.

But it wasn't long until the red-head was smiling up a storm once more "It does need some ironing out, one of my new friend's has a system that's nearly ten times more effective! I should know, my companion output is only a tenth of his."

Weiss folded her arms once more "I'd forgotten what interacting with you had been like, Penny." she stated "Not since Krimp have I heard someone go into such great detail about making-... wait."

"Oh! He told me that you guys were acquianted!" Penny said enthusiastically

"Penny," Ruby interjected "you've hung out with Krimp?"

"Of course, that Uruk has quite the talent for getting around if you have not noticed."

"We have." Weiss stated, wondering how she could've forgotten such a detail. Back when she and Blake were forced to listen to Krimp's ridiculous friendship escapades she could distinctly remember the Uruk mentioning how he and Penny had met up at an arcade. She hadn't given too much thought to it at the time, as she had still been trying to comprehend the sheer number of people he'd managed to get on good terms with, but now that she looked over the details again she grew curious "He did tell Blake and I about your meeting at an arcade, but I'm afraid I'm blanking on some details."

"You guys went to an arcade together?" Ruby snickered, trying to picture her secretly metallic friend and the disguised Uruk bonding over video games and finding the resulting image far too humorous.

"Well, we did not go there together. It was more like a chance meet up!" Penny corrected before looking up to the sky as she recalled "I just so happened to have noticed several people enjoying a dance machine together as I was passing by. I tried having fun like them, but something had been missing. Then the Uruk had shown up in his disguise seeing my troubles and danced with me in order to get the full effect! Our companionship was practically guaranteed at that point."

Ruby once more failed to hold back her snickers, it had been a while since she last spoke with Penny and all too quickly she'd remembered why she found the secret robot to be one of her most treasured friends. Penny's origin aside, the girl was just so cheerful with most things that no matter what she could cheer the little reaper up just with her presence alone. But after being apart for so long, Ruby realized that something about this seemed familiar. Penny had said that she'd been hanging out with Krimp, which wasn't a surprise at this point, Ruby was sure at his rate there'll be no one on Remnant who can claim not to have interacted with him.

But locking gazes with Weiss momentarily, Ruby realized the heiress recognized it too.

"So I take it he's the one who got you all motivated?" Weiss pointed out

"Yep!" Penny gave a salute "After hearing about how I was trying to get to know the citizens of Vale better, he began telling me all the tips and tricks he had developed to make friends!"

"Penny Polendina and Krimp the Friendly, warriors of friendship." Ruby sounded it out before nodding "Yeah, I can see it."

"Perhaps one of the most important things he helped me realize was how much you truly mean to me, Ruby!" Penny said as she approached

Ruby glanced around before giving a nervous smile "He... did?"

"Yep! Krimp introduced me to a concept I had previously underestimated: Best Friends!"

Ruby gave a sigh of relief "Oh, well I consider you one of my best friends Penny."

"But I haven't been showing it properly!" Penny placed a hand to her own chest as she recited "Krimp told me how his Best Friend is someone who he ruushes to please even at the expense of his other friends. I initially thought this seemed quite unfair to all his other friends, but then I got to thinking. And I came to the realization that I similarly value your friendship far more than that of my other friends... no offense Weiss."

"None taken," the Heiress shrugged "if I was someone else I'd probably put more stock on her than me too."

"Weiss! You shouldn't-"

"Don't get sympathetic on me, I'm merely objectively aware of how likely someone would be to gravitate towards your social ques than mine."

"But-!"

"And so when I heard that my newly established bestie had not only returned with a wounded teammate but had also lost out on participating in the tournament, I knew that I had to offer my support as soon as possible!" Penny gave a thumbs up before frowning "Krimp said he hasn't been able to be there for his bestie in many many years. It sounded horrible, so I want to make sure I'm there for you as much as possible!"

"But you know he's an Uruk right?" Weiss commented "Besides the Grimm, his people are some of the deadliest beings on Remnant right now."

"I knew something was amiss the second I saw how tall he was!" Penny stated proudly before wagging a finger "However, I could not bring myself to call him out for his identity what with how genuinely interested he seemed in helping me. Besides, what if he had just inherited an unfortunately blatant Faunus trait? Of course, law enforcement has made it clear that he is not to be taken lightly, so if I do see him again I'll have to bring him in, unfortunate as it may be."

"Well there's that." Weiss conceded before giving a thoughtful hum "I knew he had a system in place for getting his obscene amount of friends. But when you speak about it, it sounds more like a numbers game than the psychological web I anticipated."

Penny tilted her head to the side at that, but then suddenly leaned towards the Heiress "Hey, want me to share some of interesting tidbits that Krimp gave me?"

Weiss quick to back away "No... that's quite alright Penny."

Despite the potential for learning more about the seemingly ever-present companion-maker, Weiss could blatantly remember the last time she sat down to learn about Krimp's particular style of friendship. She wanted to trust Penny, as Ruby seemed to put a lot of faith in her, but even the possibility of having to sit down and listen to a bunch of after-school style feel good stories was enough to make her backtrack.

But suddenly she felt Ruby's hand on her shoulder "Hey come on! You said ya wanted to bond more, what's more bonding than telling stories with friends?"

Weiss narrowed her gaze "If you're doing this just to get out of planning for next semester, Ruby-"

"That settles it!" Penny cheered as she slipped between the two and wrapped her arms around their sides "Off we go to have a wonderful friend day! If Krimp were here, I bet even he would be jealous of the fun we are about to have!"

Weiss rolled her eyes as the taller girl began leading the two of them towards what she was hoping was an insightful discussion, with how fast he seemed to travel there was absolutely no telling where that tub of lard could be.

* * *

 **The City of Vale- Pug-Bringer Studios (Formerly known as Junior's)**

Bebe pushed her way through a door to the halls behind the main portion of the club, the laughter of both Zog and Borgu echoing behind her as she immediately made for the nearest restroom. After the twins had left the duo had started discussing tomorrow's playlist. What began as just throwing seemingly random song ideas about had quickly changed pace when the duo began slipping in slights to their unfortunate Faunus driver.

Apparently insulting her plans to escape wasn't enough jollies for them, and their songs took a much sharper turn once she realized just who their subject was.

She wouldn't let them get to her, she just needed to put distance between her and them for the time being until she could collect herself. So what if they thought her efforts were in vain, who were they? Just some random grunts blessed with personally fulfilling semblances who got snatched up by some robed maniac's underling for what could basically be summarized as a dare.

Taking a deep breath, Bebe turned a corner only to pause. Outside the doors to the bathrooms were several Masqueraders, apparently tuckered out by the dancing and fighting earlier. The Deer Faunus quickly looked around for a bunny mask, but fortunately for her it seemed Grimm Bunny was off being a nuisance elsewhere. If she just had to deal with the Female Masqueraders then maybe she could slip in and out without hassle.

She stepped past those outside and opened the door to the women's restroom before immediately clasping a hand to her face and stifling a choking sound. A wave of smoke practically rolled out to envelop the Faunus the moment the door opened, and she batted some of it away as she took several shaky steps inside.

As expected, there were more female Masqueraders inside, several of which seemed fine with crowding near the back and puffing on what she hoped was just cigarettes. With all that she had to deal with, Bebe was positive that getting a second-hand high from them would only worsen her situation. But she toughened up and tried one of he stalls, only to find it locked.

Swallowing the growing anxiety, she moved a bit closer to several Masqueraders who seemed bunched near the sink mirror and tried the next one. She may have pulled a bit harder than she intended, for the loud sound of the door shaking was followed by a yelp of pain and the sound of glass breaking on the floor.

"Fucking bitch made me miss!" a female voice shouted from inside, and Bebe moved to backpedal only to bump into someone.

"Hm?" the Masquerader turned to look down at the Faunus from behind a cat mask "Oh, if it isn't the chauffeur, I was wondering when you would show up for one of these get togethers."

Despite her polite tone, the constant smoke made Bebe refuse to open her mouth and respond.

"Thought she was just the big guy's personal hoe." one of the smoker's muttered before taking a drag "Why would she come to a dive like this, bet she's got a ritzy fuckin apartment bathroom she can use."

"Now now," Cat Mask waved off her cohorts before placing a hand on top of Bebe's head "I've been in the game long enough to spot unsullied goods. And ladies? This tart right her is as unsullied as they come."

"Pfft, the fuck she is." another Smoker blurted "With how close she is to the boss and his boy's I don't care how long you've been playing, Dust Kitten, this bitch's been sucking someone."

Bebe had no reason to believe that denying it would change their minds, in fact she was certain she'd start coughing the second she tried speaking. But that didn't mean she was just letting these insults slide over her. The Masqueraders were pretty much Societal rejects, and being talked down to by any one of them stung like hell. And since she knew damn well that picking a fight with any one of them would end badly, the only other option was-

One of the stall doors flew open and smacked a nearby masquerader as its occupant stepped out. With a broken needle in one hand and a thin trail of blood leaking down the other, the occupant lifted their own mask and glanced around with a growl "Which dead sack o shit was it who made me miss?!"

Dust Kitten was about to gesture towards the Deer-Faunus, only to find that Bebe had slipped back out the restroom the moment the opportunity had presented itself.

Bebe didn't stop running until the scent of smoke finally worked its way out of her nostrils, stumbling to a stop in what looked to be a dressing room near the back of the building. There were several racks back there with Masquerader attire still hung up, seems Mr. Bigsby had more outfits than he did assholes to fill them. Besides a single janitor who seemed busy cleaning cigarette butts and empty beer cans near what looked like a closed delivery gate, she was all alone.

And so she found a spot in between two dressing racks and slid down a wall to catch her breath. She'd felt somewhat safe here before, with the idea that she was at least surrounded by enough humans to not have to worry about death twenty-four seven. But who had she been kidding? The humans here were the absolute worst their race had to offer, so bad not even other humans could tolerate them. And with how many substances Ogthrak allowed them to indulge in there was no telling when one would fly off the handle.

It figures, doesn't matter where she was, as long as an Uruk's in charge it will be hell. She wouldn't go as far as to say it was worst than the tower, what with the Tower Uruks constant abuse and their treatment of her fellow Faunus like food. But at least she had Uthug there to soak up most of the damage. She wanted to feel bad about thinking of the angry looter as little more than a meat shield, but he had consistently denied any and all of her attempts to build trust between them.

Certainly didn't help that she abandoned him in the face of the Shaman but-

Bebe quickly shook her head, she wouldn't allow herself to feel guilty about that! She knew with absolute certainty that if the roles were reversed, if she had been the one pinned by Tuka, that Uthug would've ran without a second thought and would probably feel nothing afterwards.

But even so... why did that fact not make her feel any better?

So caught up in her thoughts, Bebe didn't notice the figure looming over her until her curled up form was swallowed by his shadow. It was only then that her annoying thoughts subsided enough for her to look up at the Janitor, who she only now realized was excessively tall... and had a smile far too warm for its own good.

"Krimp!?" the Faunus exclaimed as she instinctively scurried back to the wall

"Hey buddy!" the Disguised Uruk cheered with a wave while tapping his broom against the ground "I was wondering why you was all cowering and such."

"I wasn't-!" Bebe caught herself, refusing to follow that particular line of dialogue "What are you doing back here?!"

"Oh, this is part of my job, lass!" Krimp patted himself with a grin "Oggie says I can stay here for as long as I'd like as long as I take care of all of you's messes."

"But I haven't seen you all day! And I don't care how unnaturally sneaky you are, I would've spotted you eventually!"

"Righty, I was out trying to get back in me old friend-making groove for a while." Krimp explained "But I only made twenty-five new friends today, and with results that low I figured coming back and getting to work was the right thing to do."

"How is twenty-five new friends somehow disappointing to you?"

"Oh you should've seen me in my hay-day, back in Mordor! I had to work really hard in order to even try and keep up what with how many got yanked outta the pits daily, so making at least a hundred pals every day here should be child's play. Unfortunately, I've go a bit of a hang up. And it kinda looks like you've got something getting in your way too."

"Well duh!" Bebe yelled "I'm trying to-!"

She paused, Borgu and Zog might not see her as enough of a threat to expose her plans, but what about Krimp? From what she knew of the guy, he seemed like the perfect companion. Always willing to help out and listen when needed, shockingly versed in a variety of skills, and stubbornly friendly to the point of absurdity. Considering who she's had the misfortune of knowing in the past few months, he should be the best person to go to with problems.

But even so, he just didn't seem... smart enough to not botch something if he tried helping her. She just couldn't get over how childish his mannerisms were, and she needed someone who could take things seriously.

"Forget it," she looked away while standing up "you wouldn't understand."

"Ah phooey, I know lots!" Krimp countered "Maybe I can guess what's wrong with ya! It's Oggie right?"

"What?!"

"You's afraid he's overworking himself!"

Bebe's panic subsided immediately as she shook her head and pushed past the Uruk "Why would I care if that muscle-bounded bastard worked himself to death or not?"

"You's worried about someone specifically! I'm just narrowing down the list!" Krimp said before placing a finger to his lips in thought

She paused, he was actually closer than she initially thought. But she wasn't going to let him know that "Besides, if he wants to kill himself over some stupid loyalty to some guy in a robe then what do I care?"

"Shaman's more than a guy in a robe sweetness. You said ya met him, you should know!"

Bebe grumbled a bit, trying not to focus too hard on the memory of that thing under the robe, but she couldn't. And so she took a long, calming breath before asking "What is he?"

"Hm?" Krimp tilted his head to the side

"The Shaman, that thing under-... he's not an Uruk right? His face-"

"Oh! No he's an Uruk all right, that thing you probably saw was his Mask o Memories."

That made Bebe turn around, so he wasn't some horrifying monster?

"Mask of what?"

"The Mask of Memories, came up with it himself." Krimp snickered before raising a finger "Shaman's hard to fight lass, so hard that he shows a great respect for the people and creatures who've ever come close. And so if ya get close to killing him but he still wins, ya get added to the mask of memories. By my count there's about twenty three different warriors, monsters, and the like who've got places on that thing."

Despite the horrifying tidbit, Bebe actually felt better. What she'd seen under that robe had been amalgamation of faces, teeth and bone. She'd somehow convinced herself that the Shaman was some fleshy monster, but if he was just wearing a terrifying mask then under all that-

"He's... just an Uruk." She fond herself saying... a tiny smile forming. But then it faded, the realization that she'd abandoned Uthug over what had actually been a mask slowly blossoming.

"Uh, wouldn't say he's just an Uruk either." Krimp interrupted her trailing mind "Kind of underwhelming considering-"

"But you said it, he's just got this horrible-looking mask on." she said

"Ya just ain't getting it lass." Krimp shook his head "You ever learn how we Uruks are made?"

She shivered "Uthug said they pull you freaks out of some kinda pit."

"Yep! And let me tell ya, being assembled through sorcery and mixtures while hundreds of your brothers are trying to do the same all around you is quite the ordeal. Everyone's kicking and scratching at each other with limbs that haven't even fully formed yet, pulling each other down as they try to be the first to reach the surface. Its why we need strong vat-keepers, only a strong lad can reach in and pull an Uruk out of that kinda mess, let alone do it hundreds of times a day."

"Where are you going with this?"

"Right, so... we get pulled out of the spawn pit like anyone else, but many of us is different despite these similar origins. Some come prepackaged with immense strength or eyes that see in the dark, or even the talent for speaking to beasts... and then you get the types like the Shaman."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm saying that the pits spew out Uruks with a number of random traits, but with how many come out that randomization occasionally creates Uruks that are... well, too good." Krimp gave a bit of a laugh at that "Uruks who's abilities are too much for them to be considered on the same level as their brothers. Now we Uruks naturally compete against each other to weed out weakness, but these guys have the odds so stacked in their favor that they often wipe out their competition and amass armies all on their own. Most of the time they get so drunk on this power that they eventually try to challenge the Dark Lord himself."

Bebe was now staring at the Uruk, he body refusing to move as she swallowed before carefully asking "And- and what happens then?"

"The Dark Lord reminds them and all the rest of us why _he's_ the Dark Lord, using his immense power to destroy these contenders and re-solidifying his place at the top of the Food Chain. My brother likes to call Uruks like these as Claimants, or Usurpers depending on your vocation. But the thing about the Shaman was he was too smart in addition to his physical might, he recognized that no matter how strong he was in comparison to other _Uruks_ , that he would never be able to stand against the power of the Dark Lord. And so his ambition faded and he became complacent, settled with what he had and allowed the cycle of competition to continue unchallenged."

"But, surely he's not the only one to-"

"No no, occasionally this happens with other Claimants, and at that point they either become Overlords or become the first line of the Dark Lord's army, then it usually takes an exceptionally powerful beast or a blessed hero to take 'em down. But old Pugsy never reached beyond serving Warchiefs, I guess knowing he could never actually reach the top induced some kinda stagnation. He was still mighty feared and respected by the others though, and Uruks like Ogthrak flock to power such as his even when he ain't really using it."

"A-And now he's here." Bebe said slowly

"Well yeah!" Krimp smiled "I was so happy for him after we got sucked into this place! Ever since we wound up here he's been more enthusiastic than ever! Believe me he had all types of fun while serving in Mordor, but the guy never smiled as often as he did after he realized we was in another realm."

Krimp started laughing at that, the friendly Uruk seemingly blind to the growing dread he'd planted deep into the mind of the Faunus before him. The White Fang had been having trouble with what the Uruks call Chiefless, those without Warchiefs who merely acted impulsively. Then Bebe had met the Warchiefs and realized that if they entered the fray Brother Adam would be pressured, what with the plans he had with those mysterious humans already requiring his attention. She'd assumed informing her brothers and sisters of the Warchiefs was critical to the future of her people, but now Krimp was telling her that this Shaman guy apparently outclassed even them?!

She needed to escape now more than ever, if she allowed him to continue working in the shadows as he has been then there's no possible way that her comrades will be able to counter whatever he tries doing.

"T-thank you for the-uh.. information!" no matter how hard she tried,m she couldn't keep the panic from her voice "I... guess he's more than I initially thought so-"

"Now you gotta share something with me!"

Bebe paused, having not expected the Uruk to actually charge her for his information. He'd just seemed so forward that she'd assumed he just had a big mouth. But if he was gonna press her for something in return then...

She shook her head, Ogthrak already grilled her for information regarding the Fang. She was only a lookout, if anything her brother would have more useful information than she did. He was the one who helped relay orders whenever their captain wasn't around. She doesn't know what she could possibly have that could be equivalent to the bombshell Krimp had just thrown out there.

"I don't- I mean, what do you want?"

Krimp's smile widened as he took several steps towards her and leaned over til his face was on level with hers "Tell me about Uthug, silly!"

And suddenly her panic was almost drowned by confusion "I'm sorry?"

"I never got to meet the guy! According to Borgu and Zog, you and he were like two peas in a pod!"

No, she was not about to start dredging up memories about the Looter with all this other stuff she now had on her plate. With a frown, she folded her arms "He was just some bitter scavenger who got roped up in the same trouble I did, nothing else."

"Come now, you two went through so much together if what the others said was true!" Krimp giggled before patting her on the shoulder "Travelling through the desert, fighting that big old Grimm-"

"I was unconscious for most of that," She brushed him off "and I'll have you know that those two shouldn't be considered a reliable source of information."

"Then, why don't you tell me how things really went down, eh?"

Though the Faunus narrowed her eyes at him, she was already considering the benefits. For some reason she just couldn't stop kicking herself for running off on the Looter in his time of need, and all of her justifications didn't seem to make it better. She always heard that talking about problems made them more manageable, stopped them from festering inside. And unlike info on the Fang or her attempts to escape, she couldn't find any risks to telling Krimp about a single Uruk who, for all she knew, might be dead at this point.

And so she talked.

Krimp helped her sit on a nearby trunk and sat down while the Faunus spoke, talked about everything she could think of. From being ambushed by Zog's original Captain to being stuck trekking through the desert with their party of unfortunate fellows. From when Borgu and Zog left to the days spent working under Tarz. She did however, cut out the whole killing his brother a second time thing, that was a scene she was more than enthusiastic about omitting. But besides that, she gave him everything, she went into detail about Uthug, how he acted while they were trapped together,and how he stole and hid to survive. Finally she spoke of Tuka's attempted thievery of the Shaman's Journal to the eventual moment where she abandoned Uthug.

Krimp raised an eyebrow as he watched the Faunus tense up at that particular moment, and apparently couldn't stop himself from chiming in "You okay there, buddy?"

She could've brushed off his concerns, continued her story and been done with it "I've been feeling weird about leaving him, I guess its something akin to guilt."

"Well that's funny, you two was close enough. You should know he would've done the same-"

"I know that!" she slipped off the trunk to her feet "I know that and I still feel bad about it! He wouldn't! He'd probably have himself a drink and get back to stealing from others without a moment's hesitation. Even then I still feel horrible and I don't know why!"

Krimp watched her fume for a moment before snapping his fingers "I get it! You hate that ya stooped to his level!"

That made Bebe pause "Excuse me?!"

"You spent so much time ragging on him for his lifestyle, about how much of a cowardly thief he was. So now that you've done something that you know he would've done, you's starting to hate that you can successfully compare yourselves."

"But I'm not like him! I serve a purpose! I fought for my people!" She insisted "He doesn't believe in anything other than himself! I lived by a strict belief in a future for my people, a belief that you wouldn't understand."

"Apparently you ain't believing in it enough to die for it."

That made Bebe go wide-eyed "And what is that supposed to mean?!"

"Well it's just that you survived in me brother's tower by following all orders given to you, same with ya Uruk pal. I know how my brother works, and from what I seen I can tell you right now that a number of Faunus-folk who end up there die due to their rigid defiance in the name of their beliefs. I ain't saying you's not faithful to ya beliefs, but you ain't nowhere near as faithful as them Martyrs, buddy."

"A-are you trying to say that I'm like him?"

"No no, just that you two ain't as different as you clearly wish to believe." Krimp raised his hands innocently

"But he's a coward! He just takes from the dead and sides with whoever helps him live longer! He's got no devotion, no willingness to fight for someone else!"

"Call me crazy, but ain't we already established that ya left him hanging? Just like he would?"

"Why are you pushing this?!" Bebe demanded

"Because you are having problems with a concept, lass. And I know that giving a concept a physical manifestation to channel ya negatives towards is easier than taking it on in your mind, especially in one as prone to lapses in judgment as yours is." Krimp stated immediately before standing tall and stretching "Now then, how exactly are you different from this lowlife friend of yours?"

"Well for one," Bebe raised a finger "he's an Uruk!"

"I thought the White Fang was all about teaching folk to see other species as equals?" the Uruk countered "Now how can you possibly stand by such a belief if you's all too willing to throw it away to benefit ya'self?"

The Faunus stammered "He's a murderer! He's probably killed dozens of people, and picked though their remains!"

"They say that standing by something that requires the deaths of innocents is almost as bad as being complicit in those deaths ya'self. A tark concept but one that many believe in. You seem to value the White Fang even though I hear non-stop stories of their actions resulting in plenty of deaths every other week."

"We only kill racists who can't see us as equals!"

"Just last week I hear a contingent out in the wilds shut down a dust expedition which led to dozens of civilians being crushed in a cave-in."

"They were probably going to associate with Schnees! Its different!"

"You've got a lotta excuses, lassie. I'll give ya that!" Krimp giggled before shaking his head "But it's no wonder you's been beating yourself up so hard about this when you've got such flimsy support!"

The Uruk's giggling shifted into silent laughter as Bebe trembled with anger. She didn't care how good his hugs were, how dare this tub of lard go about calling her devotion to the White Fang flimsy! He was comparing her to that bastard who dressed in the clothes of her fallen allies, who would waste no time leaving her behind if it meant he would survive. She wasn't like him, should never even be considered in the same league as him. But if her beliefs, her ideals weren't enough to convince this childish asshole then what would!?

She hated hearing him talk like this, where every word was another comparison that raked at her heart. She'd never do the things he did, she'd never steal things from the corpses of her enemies, would never run away instead of helping her fellow White Fang members in their time of need. But despite those facts being prevalent, the smile on Krimp's face challenged her to use them... and she faltered.

So quickly he managed to throw doubt on her previous statements, the fear of him doing the same to these was palpable. She wanted to believe in her convictions, but with holes being poked in them like this then what would remain?

She couldn't believe that such struggle could've been birthed from a little bit of guilt, that sickening guilt that had been building despite her understandings that it had been misplaced. She could've avoided this damn conversation if she'd just kept her big mouth shut. If she'd just ignored her feelings and focused on the task at hand, if she would just stop feeling terrible for something she knew he would never-

Bebe blinked at that "He would never feel that way."

Krimp's smile grew upon hearing that "Hm?"

The Faunus looked up at him "That's what makes me different from him, he would never feel any remorse for abandoning me... I did."

"There ya go!" Krimp clapped "I was so worried for a moment there, you seemed so convinced that feeling bad for what you did was a bad thing. I found it so strange, usually tarks insist that feeling in the dumps after letting someone suffer without their aid was natural. You must'a been hanging around us for far too long if you believed that ta be bad."

Though she hated to admit it after the verbal tongue lashing he'd put her through, he was right. She'd kept trying to rid herself of these feelings, kept trying to deny them at every turn. But really, those emotions were what firmly set her apart from someone like Uthug. It was the right thing to feel after what she did. He may have been an asshole all the way through, but she didn't have to leave him there. And she would just have to except that.

"Now then." Krimp walked back over to the trunk and sat down as he patted it "Mind finishing your tale?"

"Not much else to say really," Bebe took a seat on the trunk once more as she recalled the last events between the Desert and Ogthrak's Club "I left him and tried escaping the Tower while everyone was in a panic. But that Uruk in the Lab coat nabbed me."

"Ratlug is quite the perceptive one."

"He caught me and brought me to his boss, that Shaman guy. But before they left Uthug showed up."

"Wait, so you did see him after the whole mess with Tuka?"

"Right, and he was angry don't get me wrong. But," Bebe paused "he was also different. Something seemed wrong with him. He kept speaking with this completely different voice and acting weird, even for him. The Storm guys that were escorting me said odd things about him too, about how he wasn't Uthug or something."

Krimp tilted his head at that, but remained silent.

"They kept talking about how he was fighting more than the others even though he just let them drag him around. Weird stuff like that. How his semblance affected people differently, and I thought Uthug never tried finding his semblance. They kept calling him Ghundza for some-"

"Wait!" Krimp suddenly shot off the ground and raised a finger with glee "I actually met the bloke!"

Bebe had moved back at his sudden interruption, but his words quickly made her narrow her gaze "What? But I thought you had me talk about him because you never met him before?"

"Stolen White Fang gear ain't too uncommon among Uruks so I didn't want to make assumptions. But if he was with Gundza then... did he have a musket?"

"Yes!"

"Well why didn't you tell me before? Only one Uruk I can think of who's walking around with a musket, unless you know many others who wield it?"

"No just-" Bebe shook her head "Wait, do you know what happened to him? What was wrong with him? Do you know why they kept calling him that name?"

"Easy there buddy." Krimp raised a hand "One at a time. See, Gundza's this other Uruk who has a semblance that lets him kinda possess people. I knew it was ya pal because I saw them on a train! After getting hurt really badly I was gonna use it to come here, but I never expected a fight to break out on top of it. Now I might've had a portion of me head crushed at the time, but I clearly remember seeing your friend there after he had gotten pretty beat up."

"Wait, what was that about having a crushed head?"

"But don't you worry none!" Krimp ignored her question and wrapped an arm around her "Pretty sure he got arrested, but he sure was alive last time I spotted him."

"Wait, if he was arrested then that would mean..." Bebe blinked "He's on the Arceus?!"

"Probably!" Krimp cheered

Then it was even worst than she feared. She'd seen the announcements, Atlas going on and on about how their glorious new prison would be able to hold as many Uruks as it would need to. How none of its inhabitants would be able to terrorize the populace again. But Bebe knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that Atlas was full of shit. Those Schnee-loving sociopaths couldn't be trusted worth a damn, and if they kept talking about how great their prison ship was then no doubt they were conducting horifying experiments on the inhabitants. No doubt trying to figure out how best to utilize them against the Faunus people.

If Uthug was really trapped there, Bebe could only imagine what soul-breaking suffering he must going through. And watching as Krimp continued cheering at that news immediately made her anger flare up again.

"What the hell are you smiling at, this is horrible!" She yelled at him "He could be getting tortured or mauled on that death trap."

"Even then, it sounds like just the thing he needs!" Krimp shrugged

"How can you say that?! Look, I know I like to talk shit about the guy. I know that. But nobody deserves to be at the mercy of Atlas."

"Listen pal, from how you've been describing him, your friend would probably benefit the most by being put in a place where he can't run away from potential danger. Uruks like him need to face it head on in order to unlock their true potential."

"What are you talking about?"

"I've been around long enough to meet all types of Uruks, so trust me when I say that your friend sound alot like a Berserker."

"What, you mean like Tuka?"

"No no, that's just what the lads in certain areas call 'em. A true berserker don't got no specific type of weapons, just a specific type of mindset: An inexplicably passionate hatred for almost everything they come across. A hatred that allows them to be nearly unrivaled in combat, makes them ignore wounds and fight with the strength of a Graug. They's a dangerous bunch, because in their frenzied state they even tear apart allies. But when you want to throw a single Uruk into a mass of enemies, its always the Berserkers who do the most damage."

"Seriously?" Bebe was not impressed "You guys get angry all the time! In fact, I don't think I've met an Uruk who wasn't pissed off about something stupid... except you of course."

"That? Oh that's just how we Uruks are naturally. We's been designed to live for combat! Its easy for us to hate things, takes a lot of time and hugs to get as jolly as me lassie! But that's not comparable to what you Tarks consider as rage. We Uruks are easy to rile, yes, but to tap into the Old Rage it needs to get personal. The Old Rage makes us into unstoppable machines on the battlefield, but it ain't easy to get to. For example, that Lad Ratlug taps into his Rage when he tastes some particularly intriguing blood."

"The dude in the Labcoat?"

"Yes! Give him a lick of that good stuff and suddenly silly concepts like damage and exhaustion don't even exist to him! And another friend of mine named Skak has this really adorable affection for his axe, that's a best friend he'd do almost anything for! So when he feels he's depriving that friend of the blood it so desires, he gets enraged real nice and quick!"

"So the key to getting angry monsters like you to be even more deadly is to just make them... angrier?"

"Well if ya want to say it in simple ways, then you's right buddy!" Krimp gave a giggle at that before calming himself down "And that's the thing about Berserkers. Its not that they get angry easily, its that they take things personally really easy. Something that might anger a regular Uruk is seen as a slight so egregious that any reason for the culprit's existence is nullified immediately. Think about it, a rage so great and primal that no price is too great for destroying its target. I've heard some stories from my elders and some claim that not even the Uruks of old can lay claim to hatred that deep!"

"And you think that's Uthug? Please, the guy runs from everything, he's a total coward! You throw him in the middle of a bunch of enemies and they'll get easy pickings."

"You ever seen him get thrown into a mass of enemies?"

"No, but that's just because he'd never willingly get himself into that situation."

"Exactly, a couple of the Berserkers I knew never realized their penchant for pain-dealing until they were up against significant odds they wouldn't survive otherwise. Your friend never got to that point because he's never been put in a situation he felt he couldn't just sneak away from. Fear like that don't make a Berserker, he's too cautious for his own good. Which is why the Arceus seems like the perfect place for him. Put him in a situation where all that caution and fear means nothing, and I'm sure its just a manner of time before he's letting loose to the rage within!"

"But he's Uthug! I know I haven't known him for long, and I know that he's exceptionally hateful, but even if this crackpot theory of yours is right there's no way he's going to just stop being a cowardly looter."

"I saw the way you began freaking out once I mentioned the Arceus." Krimp leaned toward her with a smirk "And this is something I think we's can both agree on. It ain't as safe as our pals in Atlas want us to believe."

His smile grew wide as he held back a giggle "And if that's true, then trust me when I say that it's only a matter of time."

* * *

"Who the Shrakh taught you to set a brace?" Kurgo grumbled as he felt the wooden contraption tighten around his broken arm

"Nobody," the Caterer next to him rolled his eyes before taking a swig of something on a nearby counter and returning to his work "so stop moving or this is gonna feel even worst than it is"

All around them were the sounds of blades and meat, the usual sound of a Caterer outpost like this. Right before his eyes he could see an Uruk skinning a body which dangled from a chain, the skinner tossed the skin away for later repurposing before looking over the carcass to see if he'd missed any spots.

Seeing that he had finished his task, the Skinner tossed his blade away before moving over to another chain hanging down from the ceiling and taking hold. With a single tug a mechanism activated which dragged the carcass up to the second floor of their outpost where it would be properly de-boned and shipped off to Caterer installations across the Arceus to fuel their efforts. Once the Carcass had been taken off its hook by the boys upstairs, they tossed said hook back down for the next one to be strung up. Seeing his cue, the Skinner moved to seek out the next body which needed his attention.

Kurgo frowned at this, so much effort and grunts like this still didn't know what they were fighting for. On one hand he pitied his more dim-witted brothers for their simpleness, but on the other hand this nonchalant acceptance of the lies they'd been told was what made them so good for grunt work like this.

His thoughts were interrupted as he hissed again as the brace around his arm was tightened in yet another excruciating manner, but he was an Uruk. He would stomach pain far greater than this.

"Now don't go throwing yourself into battle too soon." The Caterer who had been attending to him stood and patted him on his good shoulder "We heal quickly but that doesn't mean you can go ruining my work."

"Noted." Kurgo said as he stood "Wasn't planning on moving to the Training Arena for a few days anyway."

The Caterer shrugged before turning and walking away "But why'd ya come here first? Wound like yours would've healed quicker if you'd taken it to one of our Scouts first."

"You think I'd trust one of those Mongrels with a broken arm?" Kurgo asked as he followed behind him

"You don't even trust me with it."

"Exactly."

He had been getting tended to behind a staircase, much smaller than the ones in the more central areas of the Arceus but still big enough to let multiple Uruks ascend and descend comfortably. This place was more used for cutting up any meals they found wandering about, not dealing with wounded. They didn't want him getting in the way of their output, which he could respect in some ways.

They truly were like a well oiled machine, even now he could see the Skinner from earlier dragging a corpse back over to his skinning station. Two guards were standing near the main entrance, which was nowhere near as fortified as he would've liked. Hell, the guards were chatting up a storm rather than staying at attention like they should be. He knew the whole point of this front was that they were supposed to blend in with the destroyed locales around them, but some more metal bars wouldn't hurt anybody. Then again, they probably got cocky because of the admittedly well defensive armament they got set up outside. Speaking of which...

"Are you sure you're allowed to be this far from your post?" Kurgo asked as they drew near the staircase "You're supposed to be manning that ramshackle piece of garbage you guys seemed determined to label as a launcher."

"The Wretch's followers haven't tried scouting around here since their fourth party went missing," the Defender commented as they began to ascend "and even if they did get ballsy again we'd hear 'em a mile off what with that gaudy armor of theirs."

"But even then," once they got to the top Kurgo moved in front of the Caterer "letting yourselves get so careless when-"

"Move it!"

Kurgo suddenly had to jump out of the way of another Caterer as he wheeled a cart loaded with blades and meat-working tools right by, muttering curses about him the entire time.

"Trust me, lad." The Defender said after snickering at his comrade's misfortune "Ain't nothing going to-"

"We's got him! We's got the Wretch!"

Kurgo and the Defender both paused and glanced back down as the front entrance opened and five Uruks walked in carrying a bound Uruk that none had expected to see. Before either could even try to comment a rather small Uruk with pale skin rushed past them and down the stairs taking them two at a time.

"You got him!? Got him well and truly?" That particular Uruk asked hopefully before skidding to a stop when the Bound Uruk turned his disease riddled form towards him.

"Ah! There you are my little meat pie, got ya invitation all nice and memorized!" Bubol cooed before licking his lips "Did you get all gussied up for me, darling? Don't worry, you share just enough of her beauty to get me going no matter the attire!"

The lanky Uruk before him immediately began growling "You're gonna suffer for what you've done to all of us, Wretch, for what you did to my Blood-Brother!"

"Must've been a phase when I warmed his insides with my presence!" Bubol snickered before writhing in his binds "I would've remembered him if he had the same smooth pale skin like you's! Having one copy of her is good, two of her would be far more than I could handle!"

"He didn't even look like an Uruk when we found him!" if Kurgo was honest, it sounded like the little guy was close to tears "And I- I just-"

"Look, we need to get him prepped to send to the boss." one of the Uruks holding Bubol called out with a groan as the Lunatic thrashed in his bindings with laughter "So if ya don't mind getting out of the way."

"No!" the Pale Uruk spat "Let me cut him up first, the boss can have fun with whatever's left afterwards!"

The carriers seemed to argue for a moment, before apparently settling their dispute on the fact that there was no bonus for bringing Bubol back alive. And so they began carrying the cackling maniac off to a side room on the first floor where the Pale one could hopefully take his revenge.

But Kurgo was simply stunned, so much fighting apparently done with just like that. He'd been so focused on making sure Bubol eventually died in this conflict that he didn't really think about what could come next.

"Looks like they nabbed him." the Caterer Defender at his sighed said nonchalantly as he continued walking, taking a left at the edge of the stairs and heading towards a doorway which led to a balcony right outside the establishment.

"How could you say things so nonchalantly!?" Kurgo hurried to catch up "this means the entire fucking battle against his underlings will be over! Do you know what that monster's done to his own kind, how many Uruks he's left suffer just for a couple jollies? He'll finally be brought to justice."

"I was never fighting for any of that anyway."

As Kurgo followed him out to the balcony, he spotted it: A ramshackle, crank-operated crossbow-type armament was set up on the railing at the edge of the balcony. It was apparently supposed to launch sharpened metal fragments fast enough to mulch any whelps who decided to come snooping around. Kurgo had heard that this was how they took care of the Wretch's scouting parties, that hideous armor of theirs keeping them from running from its volley until it was too late.

Kurgo gave a look at the machine, he had no idea how much stock to put into the stories, but the mess of metal and reworking before him didn't look as if it could fling a plate without falling apart.

The Caterer operating it didn't seem to think so, as he saddled up to it and took hold of its crank with a chuckle "This is what its all about, getting something deadly in my hands and putting it to work."

"But we have the Wretch, no more having to fight those poor fools he's tricked into following him! No more-!"

"I could care less about that." the Caterer sneered "I only hooked up with this lot for the meat and the killing, only thing an Uruk should need really. You gobs can go worrying about reasons all ya want, long as there's some poor sod who needs tearing apart ya don't have to worry about..."

Kurgo raised an eyebrow as the Defender went silent, glancing past the armament to the large open area beyond their hideout. His eyes seemed to scan the rows of unfinished shops across from them, a growl under his breath.

"What it is it?" Kurgo asked

"Hm, thought I saw something."

He had, for across from them on a lower floor an Uruk was crouched behind railing, hoping that he hadn't been spotted.

 _ **Sloppy, so very sloppy.**_

Uthug resisted the urge to groan as Gundza chastised him for his less than stellar sneaking abilities.

 _Whatever, we found the place. Now can we please go tell those idiots back there and be done?_

 _ **Are you mad? This is a grand opportunity to gain the respect of those lazy metal-loving luggards and establish ourselves above them. We'll tell them, and with my help you'll lead a full scale assault on this pitiful installation.**_

 _What? You must have me confused with someone who enjoys leading idiots. I barely have the patience to interact with Bubol's cronies let alone get them to listen to me. Besides, why the shrahk would we assault the place? Aren't they holding our "Leader" prisoner in there?_

 _ **Exactly why we'll have to disable their defenses with a more stealthy approach, we both saw that odd contraption they have set up there. From the pock marks on the ground between us I'm working on the assumption that its a formidable defensive installation. We'll need to scale the wall and disable it before our forces would have a hope in hell to reach the actual building. After that we need to extract Bubol before those maniacs have a chance to cripple or kill him, then the rest will rush in en mass and chop these pissants to pieces!**_

 _Weren't you just lecturing me about how terrible my stealth is? How exactly do you plan for me to pull off all of that?_

 _ **Well for someone like you it would be practically impossible, but I on the other hand...**_

 _No._

 _ **I'm afraid that if we are to keep Bubol from getting axed off you have no choice but to allow me to take control, only long enough to disable the armament and retrieve our unfortunate comrade. After that I'll actually require you to take over as the plan requires you to give orders to-**_

 _NO! No plans, damn it._

Uthug could practically feel Gundza growling inside his head, but before the Shadow could make his distaste known they both noticed the sound of approaching footsteps from a nearby hall.

Uthug prepared to dart away, pausing only when he saw that it was Galkar, armor clanking loudly as he turned the corner and spotted them "Oi! There you-!"

The Looter slapped his hand over the Uruk's mouth and dragged him back around the corner as fast as possible.

"Shut it!" he hissed "They got eyes out there, that damn armor of yours is gonna give us away!"

Galkar eventually stopped struggling, though continued mumbling his agitations until Uthug removed his hand "This how ya treat me?" he whispered "I'll have you know I was the only bloke willing to help you, the rest of them maggots was convinced you was crazy for looking on your own. But look at you, ya found it!"

"Shh!" Uthug raised a finger to his lips, prompting the Crewmate to lower his voice again.

"So, what's the plan?"

"No plan." Uthug insisted immediately

 _ **Yes plan! I may not have gleamed the full story about what happened between you and the Plan-Maker, but this aversion to coordination and forethought is going to get the both of us killed! You need to stop being stubborn and simply listen to your superiors when they try to aid you.**_

"No plan? So are we just gonna leave him here?" Galkar asked as he lifted his helmet just enough to see better "That sounds like a shrahk idea."

 _ **See? Even a chiefless halfwit like him can appreciate a good bit of planning.**_

"We are not... making... a plan..." Uthug growled as he dug his nails into the ground beside him, he could start feeling his head aching from having to deal with both the internal and external voices at the same time

"But he's gonna die if you don't! We need him!"

 _ **He's right you sniveling little grub! The longer you spend having this sickening little episode is less time Bubol has to live, and if you ever wish to become more than just a cowardly little runt then you absolutely need to suck it up and listen to me!**_

 _No._

"And if he's dead, there ain't nobody strong enough to keep those slaughterers from attacking us full force!

 _ **You'll be stuck on this ship till those tarks get bored watching you flounder like an aimless fish! What happened to the glob who seemed so disgustingly obsessed with staying in the background that he was more than willing to provide aid to the lunatic and underlings to return to the life he once had? Well here you are being called upon to offer that aid! Aid that you cannot provide without... a fucking... plan!**_

 _No!_

"We'll all be turned into minced meats and bone armor! I always thought I'd be taken out in a drinking contest, this can't be happening!"

 _ **For the last time, stop being such a cur about it and start acting like an Uruk. I don't care what you like or hate because those don't properly apply to the facts of this situation, but here's a fact you seem dead set on ignoring:**_

 _ **WE... NEED... A...PLAN!**_

"NO!" Uthug roared before smashing his fist into the nearest thing possible, which just so happened to be Galkar's face. The Crewmate slammed onto his back after being thrown by the punch, cursing all the way as the Looter rose.

"Agh! Ya got me right in the nose ya shrahking loon!" Galkar griped

 _ **And now you've got him screaming too, if they weren't aware of us before they definitely are now. Congratulations, yet another thing you've ruined with your-**_

"I'm going to get him." Uthug snapped

"Wait what?" Galkar pulled his hands from his face to look up at the Scavenger in surprise.

 _ **Wait... WHAT?!**_

"Problem is that we need him." Uthug growled "I'm going to get him!"

 _ **B-but, we haven't gone over our plan-**_

"NO PLANS! I'm just gonna do it!" Uthug snarled

Galkar looked around at his proclamation for a moment before asking "Seriously?"

 _ **HOW!? You're going from point A to point B without thinking of what goes in-between. You can't just-! Where are you going?**_

"To get him!" the Looter spat as he turned the corner and approached the railing once more

 _ **Wait, stop! You're walking right into that thing's line of sight!**_

Indeed at that moment both Kurgo and the Caterer manning the armament spotted movement below, with the Operator snickering as he grabbed hold of the crank "Heh! There it is! Looks like one of the other Inmates, its slim pickings for sure but I can-"

Suddenly the figure below released a primal roar before leaping over the railing and charging straight towards the front door, feet tearing across the floor with reckless abandon.

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

The two Caterers who were supposed to be keeping watch near the front door halted their conversation the second they heard the roar.

"What wuz 'at?" one asked while the second drew his cleaver

"Sounded like one o' the Broken, think one of them found his way out of the depths?"

Before the first could answer the sound of shrapnel being flung at high speeds soon reached them, the second Caterer immediately turned to the door and approached it while the first shook his head.

"Nah, the guy upstairs wouldn't be wasting them metal chunks on a Broken, not up here. Maybe one of them unaffiliated cowards decided to come scout-"

"Shh, you hear that?" the second one asked as he leaned towards the door

"The Screaming or the shooting?"

"No, sounds more like-" his eyes suddenly went wide as he tried backpedaling away from the door "-Footste-!"

Uthug slammed into the door with enough force to tear it off its hinges and bringing it down upon the Caterer who had to fight to keep from being crushed under it.

 _ **Dear sweet Lord what have you done?! You just ran straight into an enemy stronghold! You got glanced by that damned thing too! We don't have enough aura you fucking lunatic! We need to leave right-**_

Uthug tuned Gundza out as he looked up to see a Caterer stepping back whilst simultaneously pulling a butcher's knife from a strap on his chest. The Looter wasted no time in flinging himself towards him and sending his fist into the back of the blade, causing it to sink into its owner's chest part way.

The Caterer roared as he swung with his other arm,only managing to get it locked in Uthug's grasp before he was hurled on top of the fallen door and his comrade partially trapped beneath it.

"Get off ya glob! Can't get me arm-" the pinned Uruk was silenced when Uthug's foot came down hard on his throat and his shouts turned to chokes for air.

The remaining Caterer finally tore his own blade from his chest and swiped at the Looter, who backed out of his range twice before latching onto his hand and sending his knee up into the bottom of the Uruk's jaw. He stumbled, but Uthug was on him in the blink of eye. Wrapping both hands around the Caterer's head, Uthug smashed his knee into it about six more times before the Uruk stopped moving.

As Uthug tossed him away, he was aware of the sound of pounding footsteps and turned to see about seven more Caterers charging down the stairs towards him.

 _ **Outnumbered and outgunned with no indication of backup! And for what!? Just to spite some dead glob?! Of all the things that could end up getting me killed this-!**_

The Shadow's complaints were annoying, but then again so was this entire scenario. The fact that he had to clean up for an incompetent mad Uruk's blunder just so his incompetent soldiers didn't get themselves killed by slightly less incompetent yet exponentially more idiotic soldiers was absolute shrahk. He just wanted it over so he could go lie down somewhere and pretend like he wasn't the universe's punching bag for just a second. And getting this over with meant getting Bubol back, which meant not letting Gundza's incessant worries distract him. Just like he wasn't letting the ache of several blunted hits from that damned armament slow him down.

Just stay focused on the now.

It was that very focus which let him hear the sound of something incoming and lunge back as a thrown blade spun by. His head snapped to an Uruk with a skinning sword picking up several blades from a cart with his good hand, Uthug ran at him without hesitation.

The Skinner's blade passed by him several times before his shoulder nudged something and the Looter turned to see an unoccupied hook which led to the second floor. Uthug narrowed his eyes at it before spinning under another swing of the Skinner's sword and slamming his leg into the Uruk's side. With a roar the Cater spun back only for Uthug's skull to sail into his face. In that single moment where the Skinner tried to shake off the attack, Uthug took hold of the Uruk's sides and flung him backwards onto the hook.

Releasing a yell as the metal dug into him, the Skinner swung his sword wildly whilst trying to pull himself off. Uthug glanced back to see the seven or so Caterers from earlier vaulting over furnishings or shoving each other out of the way as they raced towards him, and snarled before leaping onto the Skinner.

Still stuck on the hook, the Skinner swung back and slammed into the other chain behind him. After several clicks of something disengaging, he and Uthug began ascending to the second floor.

"Get back here ya glob!" one of the Caterers below shouted before another one pointed back towards the stairs.

One of the Skinner's arms shot up to the chain attached to the hook, holding tightly to keep said hook from pulling up through his torso. But that did nothing for Uthug, who wrapped his legs around the Skinner and reaching up to catch his sword-arm mid swing.

After slamming his head into the Skinner's several times, the Caterer's hold on his sword loosened enough to where Uthug could pry it from his hands.

The Looter wasted no time in returning it to its owner by plunging deep into his chest. The Skinner's free hand went to the handle of the blade immediately as his yelling was interrupted by blood from a punctured and probably shredded lung. His yelling was becoming annoying to the Looter, who already had so many other tiny annoyances to deal with.

And so Uthug reared back with his one free hand before plunging two fingers straight through the Skinner's eyes.

There was a gasp from behind him, and Uthug glanced back with a snarl to see that they'd made it to the second floor. A Caterer spotted them rising and immediately pointed them out to another who had apparently been surveying the ground floor by looking over some rails.

Seeing them both immediately go for their weapons made the Looter snarl as he hooked his fingers into the meat of the Skinner's skull before yanking a portion of his face off and launching from him to the closest Caterer below.

Though the Uruk had pulled his cleaver free, the flying fist to the side off his jaw sent him stumbling away before he could get a swing in. The Caterer closer to the railing stepped past his comrade and lunged at Uthug only for the Scavenger to go low and ram his shoulder into his gut whilst wrapping his arms around him. With a bull rush, he launched the Caterer over the railing and watched him sail down into one of the others who had been making for the stairs.

The sound of a groan beside him brought his attention to the one Uruk he'd decked mere seconds and in an instant he lunged for him. The Caterer saw him coming and took hold of a nearby table before launching it at him as he backed up.

Uthug ducked under the piece of furniture and slid past the incoming blade before taking hold of the Caterer's arm and yanking him to the floor whilst trying to pry the weapon from his hand. Unlike the Skinner, this Caterer didn't have a hook in him whittling away at his strength, and he quickly began trying to rise until Uthug slammed a foot onto his chest to keep him down. The two struggled, with the pinned Uruk reaching up and digging his claws into the Looter's leg to get him to relent.

 _ **We don't have enough Aura you thick-headed bastard! Release him before we have even less defense than we already-!**_

The Caterer let out a sudden yell as Uthug bent down and dug his teeth into the meat of his hand, sinking his maw as deep as he could before wrenching back and tearing a chunk from him.

"Get him off! Get him off!" the Caterer cried to his comrades as the Scavenger repeated the process "By the Dark Shrahking Lord get him off!"

Uthug gnawed off several fingers until there just wasn't enough left to keep hold of the cleaver, and finally yanked it free. Its owner slumped over and rolled onto his knees as he tried stemming the blood flowing from his now mutilated limb. But before he could shuffle up a yell brought his attention up just in time to catch his own cleaver between the eyes.

Uthug took hold of his head before he could slump back "Make me taste ya putrid blood will you?!" he snarled before pulling the blade free and chopping into his head several times. Finally he took hold of the cleaver's handle with his mouth and stuffed his fingers into the grisly remains of the Caterer's face before yanking what was left apart.

In the spray of black blood and sinew, the Frenzied Uruk could see the other Caterers nearly upon him "Get around him! Don't give him an avenue for escape!"

Uthug took hold of the destroyed remnants of the Uruk's head and used his other hand to grab hold of his side before hoisting the carcass up and launching it towards the attackers as he glanced around for something he could use.

Down below, the Caterer who had been thrown from the second floor was helping the Uruk he'd landed on.

"Heavy sack of Shrahk!" the momentarily downed Uruk grunted as he rubbed at his chest "Think ya cracked a damned rib!"

"It wasn't me! That lunatic came at me with-"

He couldn't finish, for at that moment a metal and wood stool sailed into him from the second floor.

The Downed Uruk flopped back to the ground and watched as the other Caterer rolled away from the impact, he grimaced before looking up just as Uthug crashed down into him.

The Looter struggled a bit from the landing, pausing when he noticed a gasping Caterer beneath him.

 _ **Are you actively trying get us killed?! What if you missed that landing, a broken ankle would leave us as sitting ducks! You can't just ignore me god damn it! Uthug?! Uthug for God's sakes you have to slow down before we both get bled!**_

Uthug stood up atop the struggling Caterer and looked up to spot the Stool he'd thrown earlier next to another downed Uruk. He started walking, pausing only to jump and smash the head of the Uruk below him.

The other Caterer rolled onto his knees and drew what seemed to be a hack saw from his belt, he swung at Uthug, who slid past him and reached for the stool as his quarry followed.

With a quick lurch the stool went sailing into the Caterer's head, sending him stumbling back as he swung the saw wildly. Uthug deflected the swings using the stool before swinging the piece of furniture into his side, before the Caterer could recover the entire seat of the chair slammed into his gut and brought him to a knee. With both hands Uthug brought the stool over his head and caved in the Caterer's skull with the seat.

It was only when that Uruk slumped to the side with the stool still stuck in his head that Uthug became aware of the footsteps surrounding him.

Looking up, he found that the pack of Caterers from upstairs had maneuvered around him while he was busy brutalizing their colleagues.

"Nowhere to run to now, Wretch boy!" one shouted as he tapped the tip of a fairly lengthy fire poker to the ground "We's gonna come at you all at once!"

 _ **Now what genius? You got lucky up until now, but we're cornered! How exactly do you plan to-**_

"No plans." Uthug grunted through the handle in his teeth before finally taking the cleaver from his mouth

This was just getting ridiculous, Gundza had anticipated a chiefless imbecile like Uthug to be averse to his command but not to a suicidal margin. Watching him charge into the fray with such reckless abandon had caused a pit to form in the Assassin. He hadn't anticipated the Looter's hate for tactical forethought to be so great as to encourage him to forego his own cowardly tendencies. While some would say it was a good thing for him to finally transcend his fears there was absolutely no way that Gundza could consider this as an improvement. How the Shrahk were they supposed to help Bubol win this little war of his if his host would rather die in some frenzied charge than take even a second to consider the benefits of a plan?!

Gundza was not about to just sit back and let him do whatever he pleased, the Scavenger had proven to hold a sea of tumultuous hate for everything around him. That sea had proven simply too much for the assassin, but maybe while Uthug was preoccupied like this he could make some headway. Tentatively, Gundza began reaching, trying to take control of the Uruk's movements once more, only to immediately recoil back.

 _ **What... what is this?!**_

It wasn't the sickening sea of hatred he'd anticipated, the moment Gundza tried spreading his control it felt as if he'd been seared by flames! It was as if someone had set that disgusting sea on fire, the poisonous thoughts igniting like gasoline creating what could be thought of as a continuous explosion inside the Looter.

"Annoying!" Uthug barked as his eyes darted between the Caterers "Annoyances! All of you! Only one way to deal with annoyances! Cull them like the worthless filth they are!"

Gundza braced himself as the Looter once more forewent thinking and simply launched himself towards the closest Uruk, as the Caterers acted in kind.

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

"Sounds pretty fun out there." Bubol cooed as he listened to the sounds of screams and bloodshed coming from the door.

"Shut up." his captor bit as he looked over a pile of tools on a nearby counter.

The room they were in was one of two that Bubol was convinced were supposed to be bathrooms. If the two partially built stalls in the corner and the broken mirror were anything to go off of. His captor had been ready and rearing to go, only to be interrupted when the screams started outside. Since then it seems like he'd been debating with himself over how to proceed, which had honestly started to bore the Uruk bound to a chair in the center of the room.

"Aw come now, lad. Chin up! I'm apparently the monster who ruined your brother, and you've got me in a classic victim scenario here."

"Don't even try to act like you could ever be considered a victim!" the Caterer shouted "You just ruin lives wherever you go and have the gal to act like its some kind of joke! I mean, just look at this!"

He reached to the counter and picked up what looked to be a handmade slingshot.

"Oh! I was wondering what you lot did with that." Bubol shook his head with a snicker "The glob who nicked it from me when they grabbed me didn't seem like the sharing type, glad to see I was wrong."

"Even now you play around with toys while destroying honorable soldiers and reducing them to... to..."

"First off I'll have you know that ain't a toy, my sweet, I'm just using it till I can find where them tarks put me bow. And secondly, its not fair for you to look that cute when thinking about traumatic memories."

Despite the incoming punch sending Bubol and the chair to the floor, the Archer couldn't help but laugh as he looked up at the Caterer "And now tears?! How is this fair!? They frame those succulent cheeks too damn well!"

The Caterer didn't bother to wipe the moisture from his face as he let the slingshot fall to the ground "My blood brother fought in so many battles, served the Dark Lord grandly for decades all while trying to help me improve despite my weaknesses! He took pity on me despite my stature, even when it made him seem weak to the others!"

"Sounds like such a great guy!" Bubol managed to get out between the laughs

"But when we got him back from you, the only thing he could do was choke on those damn growths! He couldn't even move anymore by the time your filthy disease ran its course!"

"I'm sure it was a hell of a time," Bubol cooed as he leaned up to smile at the Caterer "even though its still slipping the 'ol memory. But I guess I'm feeling all kinds of bad right now. If he was anywhere as cute as you I probably should've saved him, having two delicious little morsels like you in one room might be even more than I could take!"

The Archer's cackling was interrupted when the Caterer's foot met his face, though he was quick to start back up once his Aura was finished soaking it up "Come on! Hit harder damn you! If she were here I know I could've gotten her to beat me twice as hard with only half the effort!"

Eyes twitching from his barely contained rage, the Caterer made his way to the tools and picked several up as he turned back on the Diseased Uruk "Oh don't you worry, I'm just getting started."

Bubol smirked at that as his eyes landed on the discarded slingshot, grin widening as the Caterer approached "I'm sure you are."

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

Kurgo and the Armament Operator came to a stop near some railings as they looked down at the carnage below. The battle on the first floor had once more spread up the stairs once more, indicated by about four new corpses now decorating the steps with their innards.

"This is ridiculous! Its just one glob!" Kurgo stammered as his eyes locked onto the single assailant currently contesting with the last few Caterers at a large open area at the top of the stairs "Wait... that looks like the Newblood who broke my arm! The Shrahk is he doing here?!"

"Who cares?!" the Operator snickered "Looks like he brought a hell of a fight with him! I'm gonna get me spinning saw!"

"Wait!" Kurgo called out, but the Caterer was already running off before he could try and stop him. Kurgo swallowed nervously and turned back just in time to see the assailant put his fist through another one of his comrades. At this rate he might actually take this outpost all on his own, and if that happened then Bubol would be let free to run rampant once more.

He couldn't let that happen, too much was at stake! But with how easily the Newblood was tearing through his comrades, what could he do with only one good arm? He tried moving his braced arm only to wince as the mechanism kept his broken bone from shifting out of place too much. But as he looked down at it with a miserable grumble, he spotted something. One of the blade carts that they used to move their meat-working tools around. Slowly his eyes wandered from that to the doorway which led to the balcony where the armament was.

As a plan formed in his head, Uthug was just finishing up with the last member of that pack who had attacked him. After seeing his comrades get torn apart, the last Caterer took a much less offensive approach as he dodged the wild swings of the Looter's stolen stool, which was now caked in several layers of black blood.

Annoyed by his quarry's dodgy antics, Uthug released another yell before launching the stool at him, which he ducked under just in time to catch a kick to the jaw which sent him stumbling. Realizing he'd been caught, the Caterer swung his knife wildly while regaining his footing, but before he could steady his stance Uthug stepped past his knife and swung his own cleaver which sliced through both of the Caterer's eyes and made him stumble back with a shriek as he raised a hand to his face.

"My eyes!" he cried out as Uthug walked past him, the sound of footsteps making the newly blinded Uruk swing his knife wildly in their direction "Damn it! Damn you! Damned Shrahk!"

Uthug meanwhile dropped his cleaver and picked up the stool he had been using earlier. With the Caterer now blind, Uthug walked close and raised the stool while being mindful of the blade "Much better." he commented before swinging the seat into the side of the Uruk's face and sending him to the ground in a spray of blood and teeth.

With no immediate threats in sight, Uthug released a breath as he began casting his glare around the corpse filled room, "Now... where the hell is that perverted-?"

"Not yet big guy!" a voice called out from behind him as the sound of a moving blade reached his ear.

Uthug lunged forward just as another Caterer lunged forth with what looked like a long pipe with a jury-rigged saw attached to the top.

"Come on! Give me a good fight, damn it!" the Caterer cackled as he kicked away the corpse of his comrade whilst approaching "Blood and guts! Blades and pain! An Uruk only needs to rip and tear!"

With that the saw on the end of his pipe began spinning as he picked up speed.

 _ **Now Uthug, I know you've been getting extraordinarily lucky lately. And idiots who think they have the mental capacity to understand their surroundings often associate luck to them being actually capable. Unfortunately for both of us, I'm fairly certain just one touch of a weapon like that will be enough to tear what minuscule amount of aura we have left. So how about you drop this act and-**_

"Just another annoyance!" Uthug roared as he rushed to meet the Caterer head on.

 _ **I'm starting to wonder why I'm still even trying. Look, don't just go rushing in with this one! His weapon's got more range than the others, you need to slip inside that range to make its bonus irrelevant!**_

Gundza wasn't able to tell if Uthug heard him or not, since the Looter merely kept yelling as he ran. Slowing to a stop just to lean out of the way of the spinning blade before lunging forward. But the Caterer seemed to notice his goal, for he immediately jumped back to, placing his blade in between them again and swinging once more.

 _ **He's not gonna make this easy! He seems aware of his weapon's limitations! We need him distracted!**_

Uthug tried slipping past his blade several more times, but the Caterer seemed adamant on keeping far out of his grasp. With a snarl, Uthug reached down and grabbed hold of one of the many corpses now littering the area and lobbed it at him to try and divide his focus. The Caterer merely sawed through the body and let it spill to the floor before noticing Uthug trying to get around his guard and quickly spinning with his weapon. Once more Uthug ducked under it, only this time he dug his fist into the carved corpse before flinging a fistful of viscera into the Caterer's face, making him yell in surprise.

Whilst he began trying to wipe away the blood and gore with one hand, Uthug finally lunged past his weapon and brought his elbow down on the pipe, snapping it in half before bringing the upper half spinning towards its owner. The saw carved a huge gash in the Caterer's neck as he spun and tried to grasp the wound, only for Uthug to take hold of his head and raise his own saw in front of him.

"Wait!" The Caterer tried hissing through the garish neck wound "Just wait a-!"

Uthug jammed the spinning saw into the Caterer's mouth and let the sound of screaming and torn flesh drown out whatever he was gonna say, forcing the tool deeper and deeper until both it and its former owner ceased to function.

 _ **You know, we probably could have used a weapon like that. But then again, its not like someone like you really cares about thinking ahead, do you?**_

"Quiet!" Uthug hissed before letting the corpse fall to the floor and turning his eyes elsewhere "Anybody else!?"

 _ **Wait! Don't say that! You're going to Jinx us you-!**_

"You."

Uthug turned and watched a cart slowly approach.

 _ **Goddamn it! Can you go thirty seconds without screwing something up?!**_

The cart seemed like one of the usual ones the Caterers used for their cutting tools, the main difference between it and the others being that the Armament he had been dodging outside was strapped to its top.

"You can't let him go free!" the Uruk pushing the cart shouted, and it was only now that Uthug realized one of his arms was in a very poorly built medical brace "You have no idea what we've gone through to get rid of that walking plague!"

"Kurgo." Uthug grumbled as he turned to face him "Of course."

 _ **Yeah, you know that little tidbit about range earlier? It applies here, only on a far more lethal scale if you could imagine. I'd warn you that charging towards something like that at this distance would be near suicidal, but I'm beginning to accept that that wouldn't change your mind no matter what.**_

The second Kurgo began firing, Uthug took off to the side as metal projectiles dug deep into the ground behind him.

 ** _Okay, damn it all, charging directly at him is suicide and he'll aim where we're going soon enough. Luckily for us, looks like his arm hasn't fully healed from your last encounter. With how much force that thing is flinging with I doubt he'd be able to steady and fire it at the same time without the kickback throwing him on his arse. He's stationary as long as he's shooting, so all we really need is some kind of cover which we could use to get close to him._**

Tired of missing, Kurgo growled and ceased his volley to adjust his aim. Uthug tried charging him while he was busy, but the projectiles were sent flying almost immediately after, forcing the Looter to backtrack and start running in the opposite direction. But it was then that he spotted something, and lunged for it as Kurgo slightly adjusted his aim once more.

Uthug stood back up with the stool he'd wielded just moments ago, much to Gundza's dismay.

 _ **Are you mad?! That thing's far too small to-!**_

Uthug raced towards Kurgo even as the projectiles tore the seat of the stool apart, several making it past and carving through the last of his Aura and tearing deep grooves into his left arm. But it had been enough, and despite the blood now leaking liberally from his new wounds, Uthug slammed the torn up seat into the armament with enough force to cave it in and nearly wrenched it from Kurgo's cart.

The force of Uthug's assault had made the cart jerk back into Kurgo's stomach, but the Caterer was already moving to pull back. However, the sudden bloodied hand latching onto his brace put an end to that motion real quick.

With another guttural roar, Uthug took hold of Kurgo's brace and yanked it out of position, the Caterer crying out as his other hand shot for one of the blades on his cart.

Seeing his start to swing back, Uthug raised his foot and slammed it into the side of Kurgo's head before forcing him against the cart as his grip tightened. As the brace fell to pieces from the sheer force of the Looter's hold, Kurgo's screams rose in pitch once they both felt the limb coming free.

Ignoring the shriek of the whelp below him, Uthug twisted the broken limb until it eventually tore from its owner. The two stumbled away from each other as the bind connecting them was severed, both of them yelling as the floor was decorated with even more Caterer blood.

 _ **You had him! You had him and let him go!? Why would you even give him the opportunity to get distance between you?!**_

Uthug once more ignored Gundza's yelling, instead focusing on the hand and forearm still locked in his grasp. But instead of seeing a limb in his hold, he instead focused on the rather sharp nails his new weapon had.

Wasting no time, he lunged at the one armed Caterer brandishing the limb with intent to kill. But either Kurgo wasn't as incapacitated by the gruesome dismemberment as he'd hoped, or the adrenaline now surging through the Caterer was a force to be reckoned with. Trying not to slip on his own inky blood, Kurgo took hold of the cart and swung it into Uthug before the Frenzied Looter could get to him, the force causing the ruined armament to finally fall off the cart.

Without aura, the only thing keeping Uthug from feeling what seemed like a broken rib was the intense desire to see the annoyance before him eradicated. He pushed himself to his feet just in time for a knife to fly by his head.

Light-headed from blood loss, Kurgo fumbled with the rest of the cutting implements but still managed to launch them with surprising skill. Uthug ducked and weaved through the flying blades before vaulting over the cart and slamming his heel into Kurgo's face. Flung to the ground from the kick, Kurgo grunted as Uthug approached. And when the Looter was nearly upon him, he swung back with a cleaver he'd taken from the cart.

But Uthug was faster, and swung Kurgo's own severed hand into the Caterer's face. Kurgo's attack faltered as the nails dug long gashes into him, and it ceased altogether once Uthug dropped the limb and raised the Caterer by the throat. Kurgo tried raising his cleaver, but already the Scavenger's free hand took hold of his wrist and squeezed until the weapon slipped from his grasp.

"You can't..." Kurgo tried speaking despite his diminishing air supply "The disease needs... to be ended... after all we've done... Felgrat promised! The Wretch has ruined too many... he needs to pay! Felgrat promised us justice! Even if the rest are too stupid... too dumb to understand what they're fighting for... we must succeed!"

 _ **Hmm, I think I'm starting to understand these sniveling runts a bit more.**_

 _What's he talking about?_

 _ **Seems our dear Archer's initial understanding of his enemy was false. From what I've been able to piece together so far it seems that a good portion of these Caterers seem to be using their dismissal of Bubol's plan as a front for getting back at him for previous slights.**_

 _What?_

 _ **Bubol's made an immense number of enemies, grub. I actually expected something of this nature to occur, but I had not anticipated getting involved in such a manner. The more thoughtful Uruks working under Felgrat seem to be convinced this is their chance to rid themselves of Bubol, while the lesser grunts are merely having their own stupidity used against them.**_

"He needs to... be stopped! Needs..." Kurgo kept croaking

 _So then we just give them Bubol and they'll stop fighting?_

 _ **Cheifless... so short-sighted. This conflict's gone on too long for it to end that simply. I don't know what Felgrat's thinking, getting this lot to fight for him through lies and promises, but it seems obvious to me that he's recruited too many bloodthirsty idiots to help settle his score. If Bubol goes down, he's going to have to keep sabotaging the Crewmates until they concede.**_

 _But if he's got Bubol, then he can start trying to escape properly, right?_

 _ **Wrong, he's convinced too many of these imbeciles that his method is the right one just to get them to oppose the Diseased. If he suddenly goes back on it, especially after defeating Bubol's boys, then these Chiefless fodder will start feeling betrayed and take matters into their own hands. He's backing himself into a corner I don't think he can crawl out of.**_

 _Then we can't-_

 _ **No, you've already torn up an entire Caterer outpost, there's no team switching for you. But on the bright side, you just tore up an entire Caterer outpost on your own. If this doesn't garner respect in Bubol's ranks I don't know what will. But we still need to find him, so let's tie up this bastard and go find him. We were lucky you left one of the smarter ones alive, if we can interrogate him on the location of other outposts then we can form a plan and-**_

"NO PLANS! Uthug roared as he raised Kurgo up and slammed him onto the cart, turning the Caterer's angry mutters into groans of pain

 _ **What are you doing!? We need him alive to plan-**_

Hearing the term again seemed only to spur him on further, as Uthug reached below the cart and pulled what seemed to be a filthy skewer from it before raising it high.

 _ **Wait! No no no!**_

He brought it down with enough force to puncture both Kurgo's gut and the cart beneath him.

As the Caterer released a yell and reached fro the handle sticking out of him, Uthug took hold of either side of the cart before aiming it towards the stairs and taking off. With another roar Uthug launched the Cart down the stairs, the violent tumbling causing the skewer to rip and tear up Kurgo's insides until the cart landed on its side and sent Kurgo flying before he rolled to a stop in a pool of his own entrails.

Standing at the top of the stairs, Uthug released several more breaths as he allowed his fists to unclench.

 _ **We could've used him... we could've...**_

"I don't want to hear you even suggest that to me ever again, damn it." Uthug snarled "Plans always fail."

Though Gundza seemed ready to launch into yet another tirade, the sight of armored Uruks entering the front doors caught their gaze.

"Dear Lord, what the shrahk happened to this lot?" Galkar asked out loud as the other Crewmates behind him took in the viscious sight

"They got annoying." was the simple answer provided to them by Uthug as he descended the stairs with an exhausted sigh

"He did it all by himself?" one of the others started asking, but Galkar seemed focused on more pressing concerns.

"Where's the boss!?" he asked as he approached "Did you find him?"

"No, so how about you guys spread out and-"

The sound of a door being thrown open made all of them pause and glance past the stairs.

All of a sudden a bloodied, pale runt of an Uruk stumbled out from behind it and and nearly tripped in his haste to escape "Please! Please don't let it-"

He jerked as some tiny object seemed to slam into his hip and make him fall to his knees.

"No running sweetness!" the unmistakable cackle of Bubol rang out as the Diseased Uruk soon appeared, slingshot in hand "You got to have your fun, now I get to have mine!"

"No! Oh dear lord no!" the runt tried scrabbling away, but Bubol was on him before he could even get back to his feet.

With a swift kick to the head, the runt flopped onto his back unconscious as Bubol dropped the slingshot and immediately mounted him.

"It may be too rough to be her skin, but I've got quite the vivid imagination!" Bubol laughed as he began tearing the unconscious Uruk's Jumpsuit open and rubbing his sore-covered fingers along his bare skin "I've been making a wig that'll make you look even more like her! But don't worry, I wouldn't be so good at giving if I wasn't skilled at receiving!"

As the Crewmates shied away from their leader's rampant appetite, Utug jerked a thumb to him "There he is, guess I'm done here."

And so, as Bubol's sickening moans echoed from the corpse-filled outpost, Uthug took his leave with a tired groan. Pausing only to call back to the Crewmates from the entrance.

"And the next time one of you loses him, you're losing ya damned eyes!"

* * *

 **A.N: Chapter 14, done far quicker than I often complete chapters around here.**

 **This one was actually easier to get done than most since I was basically just building off a ton of set ups from last chapter. Because of that I wasn't able to give our Uruk of the day as much spotlight as the title would imply, but I couldn't bring myself to swap it with something esle since the Poet and Singer have always gone hand in hand with one another. After this we'll officially be in RWBY Volume 3's timeline, so fingers crossed that I can do the Mistral Regional Tournament justice.**

 **But for now, let's talk poetry.**

 **Borgu the Poet is the battle partner of Zog the Singer, and if I had brought them to Shadow of War with me I'm almost one-hundred percent certain they would be blood-brothers. At least, that's what their rate of showing up together would lead me to believe. Seriously, running into Zog was surprising enough one time, but all of a sudden the fights with him turn into a duet once Borgu arrived. It was like something out of a true musical, from the singing and rhymes it was so damn amusing. But like Zog, Borgu wasn't much of a difficulty fighting on his own. In fact, most of the times he'd flee as soon as I started dealing to damage to him, which I've translated into him being far more of a morale guy than anything else. Couple that with how extremely fast the little bugger was, and he actually outlived far more of my enemies than I initially realized**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoy, any and all criticisms positive or negative are welcomed in full so leave a review or comment if you are so inclined to do. Things you enjoyed about it? Things you hated about it? Any ways you feel I could improve? Expectations for the next chapter? Follow or Favorite at your leisure and I will see you all in the next installment of The Dreamer Gate.**

 **Next Chapter: ?**


	15. Chapter 15: The Broken

**Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of The Rings, the Middle-Earth universe, Shadow of War/Mordor or RWBY.**

 **This work will contain moments of intense violence, dark and dirty humor, and canonical divergences.**

* * *

 **The Broken**

The sun rose, shining down upon Hork's tower. Though many Uruks there would care not for the sunrise, as many forego sleep for days on end whether due to stubbornness or sheer capability, there was enough activity down in the slums for one to consider it busy.

"Come on now, gather up lads."

A couple wandering Uruks heard the call and began gathering around a crate flanked by two Uruks in red war paint. Standing atop the crate was another Uruk with similar uniform colors, who continued calling for attention until he deemed the crowd large enough. Once satisfied, he gestured to one of the other Red Uruks and bent down so they could pass a single cup of grog up to him.

"So, me and the boys here have been hearing complaints about Grog supply going around now."

"Ain't never enough!" shouted someone in the crowd

"And we can all agree to that!" the Speaker nodded before gesturing up to the tower which loomed above "Making the good swills has taken a bit more time lately, and I'm just as right pissed as any of you can be. But instead of just slacking around waiting for Hork's boys to get their grog game back on track, our gracious Captain has instead found quite the method of making what we _do_ have even more enjoyable."

"The Blood-Axe ain't no Grog-Maker," a larger Uruk grumbled "a drinker maybe, but he couldn't make a swill to save his life."

"Perhaps, but he's the creative type." the Blood Uruk countered "Tell me, what do any of you lot know about hybrid ears?"

"They's good for necklaces."

"Fun to tear at when ya beating slaves."

"Ya scream into them long enough and they might start bleeding!"

The crowd started laughing and joking about as fun tales were brought up.

"But," the Blood Uruk called out to regain their attention "any of you lot ever thought they could be used for Grog?"

The joking tales were exchanged for confused murmurs as the speaker drew a severed faunus ear and began pointing on it "Now this'll only work for the fuzzy types, but all's you got to do is chip away here, here and here till ya get a dandy little filter that's make ya drink nice and smooth. Now I ain't the patient type, but I do suggest having someone make ya one unless ya wanna miss out-"

Dark shadows crossed above, distracting the speaker as he glanced up only to immediately frown. Garrison soldiers were struggling to keep up with the Uruk leading them, even after removing most of their heavy gear, launching themselves from shanty to shanty with cautious haste. Ahead of them was a member of the Storm, casually leaping from rooftop to rooftop despite his odd armor, no doubt reveling in his ability compared to the others.

He was far more used to this than the others, evidenced by the many near trips and stumbles the garrison soldiers suffered during the prolonged exercise. They had been traversing the rooftops of the shanties for several hours now, and though they started off reasonably well, it was apparent they were being worn down.

Eventually the Storm soldier slid to a stop at the edge of a ramshackle roof, peering below as the others hurried to catch up. Though many of them took the chance to stop and rest near him, one overshot it. He would've sailed right over the edge had the trainer not reached out and took hold of his wrist.

Yanking the Uruk back to the others, the Trainer gave a low grumble.

Once the others caught their breath, they turned their glares on him as one stepped from amongst the crowd "What? We finally getting to weapons now? I ain't learned nothing since we started, thought you lot was supposed to be helpin' us?"

The Trainer narrowed his gaze before speaking in an extremely hushed tone "This will help far more than you believe."

"How?" another groaned "Those tark children got away cause we didn't have the weapons to counter them, we know your boss has you making them weird gadgets. Why ain't you teaching us how to make em too? Since Tarz and his ain't here to throw their weight around, the blacksmiths have been dying to find new ways to impress!"

Shaking his head, the Storm Soldier glanced up to the tower in the distance as he once more spoke in low whispers "Quiet, the huntsmen of this land cannot be overcome by weaponry alone. They move and adapt, you must adapt quicker. That is what the master teaches. Movement is key, and I'm sorry to say you lot have grown far too comfortable with being stationary."

"Speak up," the Garrison soldier said as his cohorts nodded in agreement "can't hear a word you's saying!"

"Those who are unable to listen lose all right to learn." the Whisperer tilted his head to the side "The master never needs to speak loudly to emphasize his presence, I merely wish to follow his image."

"Whatever, blue boy," the first Defender muttered before gesturing towards the nearest shack "we gettin back to the runnin' now or what?"

The Whisperer shrugged before bending low "Only if you and yours are able to keep up."

As they resumed traversing rooftops, a figured watched from a lower balcony of the Tower. Another stood tapping his namesake against the floor nearby as his partner reclined against the stone rails and narrowed his eyes at the training Uruks below.

Skak glanced at his partner several times, "You not liking the view?"

Ishga remained silent.

"Blood-Axe likes it." He gestured to his weapon "Thinks it'd look better with more blood puddles, but everything looks better with more of those so..."

Ishga glanced back at him for a moment, but remained wordless.

"Not sure how the boys down in the Shanties would feel about that. They'd enjoy it until the stuff started getting in the way. Wouldn't be very good overseers if we let that happen, eh?"

At that Ishga finally released a grunt.

For uncovering Tarz's ploy, the two of them had been tasked with governing the Shanties in order to prevent things of similar nature from happening. At first it had seemed like they would be replacing the Garrison's tight grip with a more familiar one, but things had actually turned out far better than they could've imagined.

Ishga had devised a plan to keep the Shanties from burgeoning under Hork's rules, but it had required a fair bit of compromise. Compromise which wouldn't have been possible without the Storm's intervention.

Ever since the Garrison's grand embarrassment, Hork and his cronies have been obsessively trying to recover lost ground using the Shaman's resources. They've been so caught up with this that their enforcement of their policies had become lax. As such, the Shanties became the chaotic rough housing hovel it was supposed to be. Skak and Ishga's Blood forces were mainly there to keep the residents from going too far. As long as they didn't bring Hork's attention back downstairs, everything would be golden... at least to Skak.

Ishga clearly didn't seem at peace with the new status quo.

The Blood-Storm finally turned away from the sunrise and looked up towards the top of the tower, already a large portion of the scaffolding had been recovered, thanks in no small part to an amazing pulley system that Ratlug had installed in the first days of their operation.

"They're up to something." Ishga grumbled to no one in particular

"Who? Pug's boys?"

"Who else Skak?!" Ishga snapped at him "Hork has never given them this much leeway, I'd be more surprised if they didn't try something."

"But I've met Pug before, he don't seem-"

"Stop calling him that!" Ishga hissed "I've put up with your nicknames before, but the Stormbringer should never be labeled in a manner that portrays him as any less of the lunatic he is."

"Oi! Boss!"

They both turned to see one of their underlings approaching "Dreamer needs you two, said it was urgent."

Skak grinned at his agitated partner "Think we'll get to chop something? Blood-Axe has been going dry for far too long."

Ishga rolled his eyes before turning and walking off "Don't be naive Skak, I'll have you know that that Mystic snake could be up to all kinds of insidious plots at this very moment."

* * *

Ratlug stared at his Master, who was reclining beside a pit of what seemed like mucky sewage. The Stormbringer was lying on his side, idly swirling a single uncovered finger in the swill as he waited.

"Sir? How long do you-"

"Until... they arrive."

The Engineer sighed as he walked away from the pit to a dingy desk, upon which were several filthy beakers and containers filled with similarly disgusting fluids "I've told you time and time again that this one is practically guaranteed to fail. I've covered the bases with what we have and found supplement ingredients where I could, but until we acquire several key elements we're just going to end up with flaws."

"They don't need to be whole... not yet." Pugrish said slowly as he pulled his finger from the mix and watched the clumpy matter drip back down into the pit "I wish to be here... when the first of the new Uruks... arrives."

"If they can even be considered Uruks." Ratlug snickered "I remember the faulty pits back in Mordor, I can only hope these ones will be just as nightmarish."

The False Doctor laughed, his voice reverberating off the walls of the cave they were in. It was much smaller than some of the others included in their underground home, nowhere near big enough for a full fledged spawning pit.

As his laughter died down, Ratlug recognized the sound of boots approaching from an adjacent passage, and soon several other Uruks in dark robes appeared. Their faces were covered by leather masks pocked by eye holes, tight straps made of a similar material kept their robes from billowing as much as the Shaman's did.

Noticing their entrance, Pugrish rose from his spot beside the pit and the new arrivals immediately folded their hands together and bowed.

"So, your wizened students finally grace us with their presence." Ratlug folded his arms as he looked them over

"Not students... merely receptacles for knowledge." the Stormbringer shook his robed head "I do not teach... merely share... These Scholars are the only ones with the aptitude to digest my givings."

Ratlug rolled his eyes.

Pugrish had been one of the few mystically inclined to get dragged to Remnant during the initial Dreamer Gate incident. Beforehand he had been adamant in keeping the secrets he held tightly locked within his mind, but some time after the Storm had established itself in this new world something had changed. Soon his most devoutly loyal learners began receiving the teaching they had craved for years. And it _was_ teaching, Ratlug didn't care how the Mystic wanted to word it.

Ratlug was never involved in the wild sorceries some Uruks could get obsessed with, he had always been a lover of mechanisms even before his research led his tribe to banish him. But even one such as he could appreciate the power Pugrish's teachings seem to have conjured. Many of these Scholars seemed far more physically adept than they had been when they'd begun their studies, and the odd dust gauntlets they wore couldn't be used by anyone not familiar with mysticism involved involved in their construction.

"Apologies, Master." one stepped forward "Your summons was unexpected, we had been continuing our business in the north and had been ill-prepared. I must beg forgiveness for any time we have wasted with our negligence."

"Nonsense... this will be quick." Pugrish gestured to the pit beside him "I merely to see... that we are on the correct path."

"Then I guess we should get started then, shall we?" Ratlug spoke up as he grabbed two beakers from the desk and walked over "The sooner we get this sorted the faster you Mystic-types can get back to whatever strange rituals you wish to indulge in next."

The Grand Shaman nodded to his underlings, and soon he and the other Scholars surrounded the pit as Ratlug tipped the contents of his beakers down into it.

As soon as the fluids touched the surface it began writhing. Slowly at first, but soon the pit was churning and mixing wildly as Pugrish raised both his arms and released a guttural sound of indistinct nature. He lowered his arms before repeating the movement, the Scholars around the pit mimicking his actions as the fluids began swishing in response to their voices.

"Join us... brothers..." Pugrish growled before falling to one knee as his acolytes continued their deep chants.

The Stormbringer brought his arms to his side as he stared down into the writhing pit, before suddenly launching both his hands into the swirling liquids.

Closing his eyes, the Grand Shaman could feel it. Shapes taking form and being torn apart by each other, a sensation he had not felt since his time as a Vat-Keeper. Likewise, the feeling of something strong taking hold of his limbs was not enough to prompt him into action. It did not hang on for long as soon the forms around it had torn enough of it away to the point where it had been dragged off by the pit's current.

He had only been a Vat-Keeper for a short time, dismissed due to his low output of soldiers in comparison to his contemporaries. He had not merely taken the grip of any single forming Uruk who managed to hold on for more than two seconds. They needed to prove they deserved the right to exist. The others had not understood his methods, as most of their soldiers were destined to merely become grunts for those who managed to rise above. But Pugrish had never settled for less in this regard, he only brought true warriors into the world.

Which was why he waited, staying in that position for far longer than any single Vat-Keeper had any right to.

So much so that Ratlug became impatient. He had been witness to the birthing process of Uruk-Hai many times, even assisted several Vat-Keepers in perfecting their swills before. As such, it was figured that his knowledge combined with the Shaman's mysticism would surely be the quickest way to constructing a Spawn Pit in Remnant with the resources available to them.

But he had not seen the Shaman during his days as a Vat-Keeper, and therefore was unprepared for just how long he was taking. Most other Vat-Keepers could yank out an entire company of freshly spawned Uruks in the time the Stormbringer was taking just to get a hold of one.

"Come now, shouldn't be hard to nab one of these flawed whelps from such a tiny pit." the Engineer rolled his eyes before approaching the pool. He was careful not to disturb the Scholars, he knew that a pit this weak wouldn't be able to sustain itself without their mystical encouragement. He found the largest space between them and kneeled down before shoving his hand deep into the churning sludge.

It didn't take long for something to take hold, and he immediately lurched back and away with it clamping onto his hand. The shrill cry that punctured the air once his catch broke free of its liquid prison was not that of an Uruk, it was frail and desperate in ways that no servant of Sauron could ever attest to be. Indeed, what Ratlug pulled free from the pit was but the upper half of an Uruk still struggling to pull itself together. It seemed lucky enough that its skin managed to form just enough to keep its no doubt malformed organs trapped within the unfinished monstrosity that was its body.

The very tip of an all too thin spinal-cord was protruding from where its lower torso ended, several ribs had grown past their fleshy cage and were protruding from its leathery chest in a visibly agonizing manner. One arm was stubby, ending at the forearm. The other had been split into two thin arms that looked like they could barely hold a stick let alone a weapon.

And its face was one locked in a perpetual expression of utmost pain and misery. Several teeth were far too large, and the brain dead creature had accidentally punctured its upper mouth several times with them. Its skull was too small, and if the black blood oozing from its misshapen ears said anything, its brain was probably being squeezed by its own container. One eye seemed to be made of three, all squeezed tightly into the socket to the point where all three were made useless by sheer pressure. And its one good eye stared desperately up at Ratlug, flitting about in a manic fashion that could only hint to the unbridled suffering this unfortunate creature would have to endure for the rest of its pathetically short life.

"Well, it forms them." Ratlug noted as he let the malformed Uruk fall to the floor, where it continued releasing illegible sounds of suffering "But the flaws present are far more egregious than anticipated."

Ratlug narrowed his eyes as the creature scratched at his leg pitifully with one of its thinner arms, and he immediately kicked the damn thing away so he could focus on his findings. He'd always had an appreciation for the odd mix of both practical ingredients and Uruk-Hai sorcery that goes into each and every pit, but when they failed they failed spectacularly, producing nothing that could even be compared to the numerous soldiers of the Dark Lord. Instead the mistakes of the Pits makeup were passed down to the offspring unfortunate enough to be drawn out of it. They would never be actual Uruks, they were simply Flawed.

Which was why when he turned back to see the Grand Shaman holding on to a fully developed pair of arms, he suddenly found words failing him.

"You want to exist... don't you?" The Shaman spoke slowly as the creature holding on to his arms slowly emerged "The others among you may believe... that wishing is all it takes... But I don't grant wishes to the nonexistent... You must show you have the will to exist... that you will work... to exist! I am merely your anchor... Prove that experiencing life is something worth fighting for!"

Ratlug backed away as a large form began pulling itself from the pit, the fake doctor almost tripped on the Flawed Uruk below as he tried to find something to steady himself on.

The Scholars seemed similarly unsettled by the being rising from the pit, but it seemed their conviction was far more stalwart than the Engineer's as they continued their chanting.

"Good...Good..." Pugrish said slowly as he had to back up to make room for his catch, he had almost made it to a wall behind him when the Fresh Spawn finally collapsed to its knees before him.

The Shaman looked over the remaining sludge that had gotten on his robes in the process, before giving a tiny chuckle.

As the remnants of the pit leaked from the Fresh Spawn's body, the flaws became more apparent. His head was misshapen, bulbous in some places, short in the others. His tongue dangled from his mouth, longer than even an Uruk tongue had any right to be. And beside some patchy skin here and there the major indicator of his unfortunate origin were the hands. They were obscenely large for a regular Uruk, easily larger than his own head. And some of the space between flesh and nails seemed fused together in an odd yet noticeable way.

"Congratulations..." Pugrish cooed as the Fresh Spawn began coughing up some of the Pit's sludge which remained inside him "You just earned... the right to exist."

He turned away and shook some of the muck off of him before calling back to his students "This pit has given all it can... time to relieve it of its duty."

The chanting finally stopped as the Fresh Spawn rolled onto his back and took several long breaths. The Scholars lowered their arms and the pit stopped churning, however some forms still rose and fell as the swill started to settle.

"Oh... and free the accursed who remain." Pugrish called back

"With haste!" One of the Scholars bowed before kneeling beside the slowing pool and rearing back with his gauntlet, electrical sparks flared along it before he plunged his fist into the pit.

Ratlug had not moved. The shock of a semi-capable looking Uruk having been pulled from something so inherently flawed left him more stunned than any blunt head trauma ever could.

"I like the name Belfor..."

Ratlug was snapped from his daze by the Shaman's voice, and watched as the Stormbringer took his leave "...send him to the trainers... my expectations are rather high for him."

As the Shaman left, Ratlug took a single step forward "That... that shouldn't have been possible." he said as his eyes darted from the Shaman down to the Fresh Spawn "That- this! This should not be possible!"

Beside him, the Scholar who had dipped his gauntlet into the pit began to snicker as he pulled his arm from the now slightly smoking liquids "The master cares not, Tinkerer. If he wills it, then he shall _make_ it possible."

* * *

"I thought you lot were hold up in the lowest portions of ship?"

Galkar turned to look back at Uthug, pausing in the dank maintenance tunnel to tilt his head "What? No no! We's just hanging out beneath them commercial portions where the Caterers don't got no advantages. Can't go dancing around attacks when the walls so close together. You talking low portions, then you want the Depths."

 _ **Its not surprising, from what I've learned of Tark ships in this realm, the most mechanical portions are kept near the bottom. I had been confused at the scarcity of machinery back around Bubol's hovel, but had assumed the Wardens had simply constructed this vessel's finer components in a place they could lock off from the holding area. That very well may be true, but it seems the portents where it should be are still vacant and accessible. This is concerning. If what this grub says is true, then there are methods of accessing these Depths all over. If that's true it will make the perfect method of moving between portions of the ship, but nobody seems to be using it in that manner. Ask him why.**_

Uthug rolled his eyes, but complied "So why ain't you lot using it to outmaneuver the Caterers and whatnot?"

"Oh, that's because of the Broken."

"Broken?"

Galkar paused and looked back to the Looter "Now I came in with the groups from the Arena with the Boss, but we wasn't the first. From how the older inmates say it, the first big group to come here was caught trying to steal dust for the Shaman's boys."

 _ **Yes, the group led by Kruk, Grisha, Bubol and Felgrat. From what I hear, things did not end well for them. Kruk and his crew got caught while Grisha and Felgrat had to sacrifice most of their followers to the Storm to survive.**_

"Apparently back then the Tarks would make trips down from the upper decks, being all sneaky and the like. They'd drag off random inmates for testing, snagged almost all of Kruk's lads before they finally stopped. Big guy got really desperate to leave the more his lads went missing, probably why he thought Felgrat's faster explosion method was more appealing. Anyway, the point is that when they actually did toss the boys back to 'em they was all types of messed up in the head. Acted with more animosity, spoke in incoherent ramblings, hunched over like some of the Flawed."

 _ **Hm, I had expected Atlas to be running tests on us, but to the extent of mentally breaking what sound like dozens of soldiers? Forget hiding us away from the world, they've been using this place to find ways to destroy us.**_

"So let me guess," Uthug sighed "the reason you guys don't go down in the Depths is because..."

"Yep, poor bastards seemed to like the pitch black darkness and humidity of the depths, they've adapted to it." Galkar shook his head before he continued leading the way "You think the Caterers got a monopoly on area? Pfft, the damned Broken don't have nearly enough numbers and have been keeping both us and Felgrat's lads out all on they's own."

"Great, which means more traps." Uthug groaned as he followed

 ** _Dangerous indeed, but a golden opportunity none the less. If their numbers really are as small as he says, we may be able to clear them out and let Bubol's boys move in. We could cover area the Caterers could only dream of._**

"Traps and more, I hear. But the funny thing is that other inmates keep trying to go down there anyway." Galkar walked ahead through a doorway and down some metal stairs "The fighting between Bubol and Felgrat's got so many Uruks pissing themselves, they think if they can just outsmart the Broken they can stay away from the conflict upstairs. Now not many ever come back from the Depths, so I don't know how bad it is myself, but who knows? Maybe some poor sods are actually killing it down there.

"Great, so on top of being filled with death traps built by a bunch o' mental lunatics, this place probably has a couple survivalist nuts who'll think I'd make a nice meal or something."

"Why ya gotta be such a pessimist? I mean, if a tark can survive down there I'm sure you can."

Uthug paused.

 _ **Get him to explain, get him to explain NOW!**_

"What do you mean by that?"

"Just another rumor, hear from some of the guys that try their luck at going down there that some mangy-looking Tark's been scampering about. You's gonna have to ask the boss about it, but apparently its been down there for a while."

 ** _That... is far too odd to not follow up on._**

Uthug sighed, if Bubol wasn't so damned caught up with his new toy then he could've just brought him. Getting pieces of information that the Diseased lunatic could no doubt complete was nothing if not infuriating. How long can one scrawny runt keep him entertained anyway?

 _ **Oh, so that's overstepping to you? It took me days just to get you to agree on this outing. Your wounds weren't even critical enough to warrant such stagnation!**_

"Are you sure you wanna do this?" Galkar asked as he led them through a doorway and began descending some metal stairs "The boys might think your some kinda loon but with what some say about-"

"They think I'm what?" Uthug interrupted "They talking shrahk about me? Behind my back?!"

Galkar was quick to wave him off "No no! Nothing like that! Its just that after hearing 'bout how ya took on Felgrat's lads like you did, words are getting around. Some of the boys even calling you Uthug of the Black-Cloth."

The Looter cocked an eyebrow "Why Black-Cloth though?"

Galkar paused before glancing back at Uthug and nodding to his jumpsuit.

The Scavenger looked down. Most of his jumpsuit had been soaked in the black blood of the Caterers he butchered several days ago, and had long since dried. The left arm of his jumpsuit had been torn so much that he'd just ripped the damn thing off. Gundza had demanded he simply replace the entire thing with some fresher cloth from some other poor sod, but the Looter hadn't been in the mood to go stealing clothes of all things.

And so he'd spent the last few days walking around with his black stained attire, made him stand out from his armored compatriots, but why did that have to be what they named him after? Couldn't they have gotten him something more impressive? Sure it sounded ominous, but it felt like something those nutheads from the Mystic Tribe would come up with.

But instead he merely nodded "Fine, I see ya point."

Galkar cracked a smirk before continuing down the stairs "They's all impressed, ain't none of us ever had the gal to just charge into enemy turf like that. They seem to think your some kinda brutal warrior what with that stunt."

"From your tone it sounds like you don't believe them." Uthug pointed out

The armored inmate chuckled "Well I saw what was left after you ran in pal, and I ain't saying it wasn't astounding. But when ya work for something as deadly as the boss it gets kinda hard to be impressed. Sure ya may have wiped out the globs, but the Boss would've done it twice as fast with double the laughs!"

Uthug's frown deepened. He wasn't mad that Galkar wasn't buying into the hype that was apparently being spread about him, he didn't want to be dragged into the limelight more than was absolutely necessary. It was the fact that he was getting downplayed in comparison to the perverted bastard who literally let himself get captured all in the name of his sick obsession.

 _ **Stop complaining, just be glad you're building a name for yourself. You've made it abundantly clear that you'd like nothing more than to shrink into the shadows like a rodent, but notoriety means respect. Having a title is power no matter your opinions of it, for the more grubs who know of it the more they'll either fear or admire you. Both are powerful weapons in the hands of the right Uruk.**_

 _Unless its a ridiculous title like Dung-Heaver or something._

All of a sudden Uthug paused as the sight of Galkar ahead of him was replaced by the walls of a deep hole.

Uthug didn't know what was happening, he tried looking around but the vision didn't respond. It moved on its own accord, and once he saw a different color of skin than his own he realized he was looking through someone else's eyes. He was smaller, thin and bony, and as he reached a gnarled hand up to the top of the pit another Uruk arm reached down to help him up.

The skies of Mordor greeted him, with rocks and stone being the first things he could identify. The next was the Uruk who'd helped him, who seemed to whistle to some nearby beasts... Caragors. A pack of them, lounging around the hole he'd just been pulled out of. At the sound of the other Uruk's whistle they began rising.

 _What is this?_

 _ **Well, as it turns out I actually worked with an Uruk with the title of Dung-Heaver. Was a master of befriending the beasts of Mordor, had no problems cleaning their filth. You seemed convinced nobody could be threatening with a name such as that, however...**_

Uthug's vision turned back to the hole, and at the bottom he could see a bound and gagged Uruk trapped against the hole's wall.

 _ **He helped me with a Captain who had been planning against my master at the time, his beasts overwhelmed the traitor's guards and we captured him with no problem. And after being so thoroughly beaten, an Uruk with such little to offer would only find worth as a toilet.**_

Uthug's shivered as the vision faded just as the beasts began approaching the hole. The dry land of Mordor fading back to the damp metal of the Arceus.

 _ **Remember that all Titles are fearsome, even a brain-damaged glob with a title can incur horrible fates for those who underestimate him.**_

The Looter growled, couldn't the Shadow have explained that to him without giving him the idea of being buried alive in a pit of dung?

 _ **You'd probably just ignore me like you've grown so fond of doing lately.**_

Uthug wasn't positive, but he was fairly certain there was an edge of spite in the Assassin's tone.

"Here it is!"

Uthug glanced over to find they'd reached the bottom of the stairs, finding Galkar standing beside a large pit in the metal floor.

"Even further down?" the Looter groaned as he knelt near the hole and peered down "Just how big is this place?"

 _ **Atlas seemed positive they'd be able to fit several thousand of us here, so it would need the occupational space of a small city regardless of standards. Even so, the fact that all of this was once planned to be a pleasure cruise speaks volumes of the opulence of their elites.**_

"This is where the last few jumped down, but that was a few days before you showed up." Galkar said as he turned and began taking his leave

"What, no tips for where I should look first?" Uthug called back "No trinkets or caches to make this easier?"

"Tried that with the first globs who went in there, gave 'em weapons and tools and the like. Even strapped some of them with these amazing everlasting torches we found. Not one of 'em came back! So no... ain't really a thing I can give ya accept a little piece of advice: Don't die."

The looter's eyes narrowed as the Inmate took his leave, but oddly enough Gundza seemed quite pleased with the results.

 _ **What he described sounds like flashlights, sources of light used by tarks in this realm. If we can find those then the rumored darkness of the depths will be nothing to us, provided they haven't run out or been broken in some manner. Seems like we'll be looting the corpses of fallen explorers for advantages, this should feel quite familiar to you of all people.**_

Uthug sighed as he examined the area below, the dim lighting around him only seemed to cover a small portion. A single circle of light in what may as well be a wall of tar. Uthug liked being able to see things, and he didn't like moving through potentially booby-trapped areas, so this was pretty much par for the course at this rate. However, if it got him off this god-forsaken boat quicker...

With a deep breath, Uthug sat down and let both of his legs dangle. If he was quick and lucky, he might be able to find one of the dead explorers before the Broken found him. But considering who he was and how much fate seemed to scorn his very existence, he was prepared to start swinging immediately.

So he leaped down to the darkness below... only for the floor to immediately cave in once he landed on it.

Before he could tell what was happening, he was suspended by a cord tied around one leg above a floor beneath the one he landed on.

"Rats fell! Rats fell! Met Rats, meet Rats, meaty meaty Rats!" the tortured cry of something moving in the darkness hit Uthug's ears, had it dug away at the bottom of the floor just to set a trap? Galkar said the last Uruks to use that passage came down about a week ago!

Regardless, Uthug leaned up to try and grab at the cord around his leg, conscious of the sound of feet moving closer.

"Rat meat, not diseased! Tainted soon but not now!"

Ugh, it was like Knock Knock all over again. Uthug groaned as he finally caught hold of the cord, glancing up in time to see a filthy looking inmate in a tattered jumpsuit scrambling towards him from the darkness with a shoddily built axe.

 _ **He's coming, might want to move a little faster.**_

Growling, Uthug let go of the cord and started using his limbs to swing himself as the Uruk closed in.

The Broken Uruk reared back with his axe and swung when Uthug was near, only for the Looter to catch the Axe mid-swing before yanking the inmate close.

 _ **Amateur, who builds a rope trap and leaves their prey with this much mobility? The whole point of a trap is to immobilize them so they're easier to strike, if he had fashioned a spear instead now-**_

Uthug tuned the Shadow's musings out as he struggled with the broken Uruk, whose grounded position made it far harder to pry the weapon from him. Until Uthug pulled one hand back and punched him square upside the head with it. In his dazed state, Uthug wrestled the axe from the raving lunatic's grasp and immediately swung it into the cord holding him.

Dropping onto the ground, he rolled onto his feet before glaring up towards his captor only to find nothing but the sound of retreating footsteps.

"Meat's free! But feisty feisty indeed!" the manic cries of the retreating Uruk rang out as the sound of a door being yanked open reached the Looter "Better with deer meat! More cooks to prepare!"

As Uthug tore the rest of the cord from his leg and stood, he stared after the retreating sound of footsteps. Yep, this was about what he could expect.

 _ **Since you're not immediately giving chase I can assume you can't see very well in the dark?**_

"What, and you can?" Uthug grumbled as he lifted the shoddy axe in his hand and gave it a swing or two

 _ **Why yes, my kind of work requires the protection of the dark, and my eyes are far clearer than most in its embrace. I can even share that ability with you if you allow me a tiny bit of control.**_

"No."

 _ **Fine, be stubborn.**_

"And its not like I'm blind down here. I see better in this stuff than any Tark could claim to, just... just not as good as I'd like so... whatever, let's just get moving."

And so he did, slowly, very slowly.

He left the room the same way the Broken Uruk had fled, taking his steps one at a time. He took several turns, found several more rooms. Most of which seemed as though their furniture had been fully torn out. Many of them didn't have doors, but it was after finally finding one that he got relief. The room he found beyond had actual light. Not much, but far more than the inky blackness he'd been traversing before.

 _ **Emergency lights, seem this place isn't as endlessly dark as Galkar claimed. But if its easier for us to see then this would be a fine spot for ambushes. Continue moving with-**_

"Caution." Uthug finished with a grunt "I get it."

He moved again, climbing down a ladder and moving around what seemed like heavy duty machinery. All of it seemed to be covered with thick plating, but he could hear the whirs and pulls of cogs and gears within.

This really was the depths of the ship, Gundza was once more taken aback by just how much access the prisoners had to the inner workings of their prison. Even with the metal plating, if the Caterers ever found certain parts here and took their explosives to them that would be it.

 _ **Try not to kill any Broken.**_

"Excuse me?"

 _ **The lunatics running around down here, try and leave them alive. They're a hurdle for us but a hurdle for all of our enemies as well, and if we can overcome that hurdle without removing it for them then success will be twofold.**_

"They're annoying." Uthug walked down some steps and found his feet submerged in shallow water "Almost as annoying as broken pipes."

 _ **Even back in Mordor I made use of the mentally destroyed. Uruks are weapons, and even mindless weapons can injure an enemy. In fact, one of my very own Prowlers was off his rocker for most of our excursions yet he remained deadly in his own right... even inciteful at times.**_

"Inciteful?"

The Shadow was silent for a while as Uthug neared some raised platforms, but as he searched for a way up to them Gundza's voice continued.

 _ **Madness to an Uruk can take many forms... for beings like these Broken it can be interpreted as obsessiveness or manic actions, most things that can be associated with regular Uruks merely extrapolated to far more egregious degrees. For deranged Uruks like Gimub, it can even manifest in forms of foresight.**_

"What like Dreamer's thing?"

 _ **"Visions and foresight are two different things, albeit similarly hard to decipher. Let's just say that in his mad ravings, Gimub claimed to know things. I admit I was skeptical all the way up until I learned he'd been slain in a battle against the White Fang. But as I remember some of the last bits of nonsense he spouted, I'm starting to believe he may have had some immense intuition at least.**_

"Sounds like a bunch of Mystic nonsense." Uthug grumbled as he finally spotted another ladder

 _ **Perhaps, but there's some merit to the hypothetical. Like how you hypothetically gritted your teeth a bit when that Broken mentioned deer. Or how you subconsciously just did it again the second that I mentioned it.**_

"Pfft," the Looter gave a small grunt as he began climbing the ladder "its nothing. Just memories now."

 _ **If you withhold information that makes you react in small yet noticeable ways, I'm going to get curious. Besides, knowing you and your luck this small thing probably means life or death for us, so out with it.**_

"Well, only deer I know was this Hybrid cur who left me to die some time before you snuck your way in."

 _ **A faunus? Why wouldn't you be more affected by... wait... you mean the White Fang wench from your memories?**_

"That's the one, I don't know what I expected of her but I don't know why I'm getting pissy that she outright abandoned me."

 _ **She had no right to leave you in such a condition, she should've known her place and provided aid in any way she could've. Don't fret over grudges, turn them into fuel. Yours is a particularly strong hatred, any and all forms of it will make you a deadlier Uruk.**_

"That's the thing, I hate that she left me to deal with Tuka on my own, but I don't really hate her." Uthug finished climbing and began carefully walking along the catwalk's rail "She was annoying as all hell what with her stupid nonsensical beliefs and constant shows of weakness, but she's just too pitiful to hate."

 _ **Actually feeling pity for something other than yourself? This lass must be worthless if someone like you can actually mock them.**_

Noting the jab, Uthug was about to raise his voice when a loud snapping sound echoed through the room and the catwalk he was on suddenly tipped down to the wet ground below. Uthug's free hand shot to the grating, catching himself as the sound of footsteps pounding against the moist ground grew near. His hand started slipping on the moist surface, and his other hand shot out to help steady himself. The unfortunate result of this being his only weapon just so conveniently slipping through his fingers as he tried to tighten his grip. And of course it just had to fall at the feet of several approaching Broken, all in similar filthy states to the first.

"Big boy ain't having a swim," one with a large ramshackle mace cooed "don't wanna drown with the rest of us."

"No wet meat?!"

Uthug glanced up to see a familiar inmate scramble forward and claim the fallen axe "Rat meat stew needs many knives to slice! Stubborn rats! Stubborn meat!"

"You again." Uthug snarled as the Broken Uruk immediately began tasting the shoddy axe

 _ **Remember, we'll need them alive to keep harassing the Caterers!**_

Uthug's eyelids twitched before turning to the catwalk ahead and launching himself towards it.

"Big boy running! Don't worry big boy, I'm coming!"

Pulling himself up, Uthug ran, finding the nearest doorway and bolting down it.

Between his own breathing and the footsteps behind him, he almost missed Gundza's sudden yell.

 _ **Tripwire!**_

Uthug looked down just as his foot snagged something, and was lucky enough to duck just as a pipe with jagged pieces of other pipes stuck in it slid out from a corner.

Uthug didn't pause to catch his breath after he passed under it, glancing back just as the Broken easily passed the obstacle with little care.

 _ **They knew it was there, they're chasing us into traps.**_

"Can I kill them now?!" Uthug called out as he avoided a low hanging sheet of metal with more jagged items wedged into it.

 _ **Weighing our options, I'd say avoidance is still our best bet.**_

Gritting his teeth, the Looter continued running through the damp corridors, dodging traps that the Broken seemed to just slide around like water. He made a turn only for another Broken to yank down a gate laced with broken glass. He continued running, every trap he managed to avoid bringing the Broken pursuers closer and closer.

Until he spotted something different ahead, a wooden catwalk that seemed to pass over a large open space.

"Big fall for a big boy!"

Uthug's eyes widened once he reached the catwalk, the space it was suspended over was massive, enough to fit a smaller ship inside easily. He could see similar catwalk bridges going across the small dark chasm and even some running along its walls. He would've stopped to awe at the sudden abundance of space if not for the approaching cries from behind, he continued running.

"Big boy up!"

Uthug stumbled as the wooden surface below shifted, and the space in front of him began ascending via a rope being pulled from elsewhere. The looter lunged for it and grabbed hold just as it began ascending away.

"And down he goes!"

He glanced back to see the Broken at the head of the pack whip out a small blade. Seeing his intent, Uthug scrambled atop the suspended piece of wood and ran across it just as the sound of a flying blade approached. He leaped to the other section of platform ahead just before the thrown blade cut the suspended portion down and sent it tumbling to the darkness below.

He was about to give a breath of relief when the door ahead of him swung open. Another shockingly familiar inmate stepped out before reaching for a sledge-hammer strapped to his back. The sight of him was enough to give Uthug pause, as it was a certain beefy Uruk he'd almost forgotten about.

"Knock Knock." he said as Uthug pushed himself to his feet.

Knocker brought the hammer down on the wooden catwalk with enough force to cause the entire thing to shake dangerously. Uthug ran as fast as he could, but the bridge was already giving way beneath him. He reached out for Knocker as the other Uruk entered the door once more and closed it behind him, and then he was reaching for the ceiling as he plummeted.

But suddenly a pair of hands shot out of a nearby doorway as he fell by and grabbed hold of his outstretched hand.

Uthug released a gasp as he felt his descent halt, and his eyes went to the group of Broken on the upper catwalk across from them.

"No fair! Big boys don't get help from little boys!" the pack leader snarled as Uthug was hauled into another doorway by whoever had caught him.

As soon as he was on solid ground, he realized that directly across from him was another door, almost as if there had been a bridge between them at one point beforehand. He sighed in relief and turned, only to find yet another familiar face.

"Gotta be more careful there, sweetness!" Bubol cooed as he leered down at the Looter "Almost got ruined there!"

"Bubol?"

 _ **Bubol?!**_

"Bubol!" the diseased archer cheered before gesturing to him "Good to see you remember me!"

"I wha- No I mean what in the black-soaked hell are you doing down here?!" Uthug shouted as he rose

"Ah, Black-soaked hell because you're of the Black cloth nowadays, I get it." the Marksman snickered before gesturing to the space behind Uthug "Well I've seen that lot set that trap up enough times to tell when some glob's gonna fall. So I like to wait and watch when I can, its very therapeutic I'll have ya know."

Uthug was about to yell how little sense that made, when something else in his sentence caught his attention even more "Wait, your saying that not only have you been here before, but you've been here enough to memorize certain patterns of the Broken?"

"Yep!"

Uthug collapsed against a nearby wall as he held a hand to his head, "How? How do your lackeys keep losing track of you?!"

"Ah, don't be so hard on them, I'm just that slippery."

"But what if you get captured again?!" Uthug shouted while pushing away from the wall "Do you know what I went through to save you last time?!"

"Save me? I was having the time of my life buddy." Bubol clapped him on the shoulder "With the stalemate we're in it can get awfully boring if I don't shake it up now and then."

"But I-" the Looter ground to a screeching halt as he once more caught on to Bubol's implications "You... you knew you would get captured."

Bubol raised an eyebrow before his boil covered face stretched into a grin "Well of course I did, they'd already done it seven times."

Uthug collapsed to his knees "Seven times... they lured you out seven times."

"And every single time I manage to escape! Nothing like slipping out of dire scenarios to get the blood pumping, ya know what I'm saying? I mean Felgrat's spread his guys so far that I don't think they can even get word of my capture to him before I'm gone. They always get so hyper and hopeful when they have me, but after I give 'em the slip they get so ashamed about it that they just straight up hide the fact that they lost me. I mean who would want to tell everyone that they had the enemy leader fully secured in their hold only for him to waltz out like it wasn't no bother?"

"I slaughtered an entire outpost... just to get you out..." Uthug said slowly "Galkar said-"

"Oh him, the guy's a bit starstruck I'll admit." Bubol snickered "Always blows things out of proportion just cause I ain't there, actually kinda sad really. Especially when he riles up some of the others."

"So... so you're saying I did all of that..."

Bubol leaned in with a grin and whispered "for... absolutely... nothing~"

 _ **Just... just god damn it Bubol.**_

Uthug wailed before slamming his fist into a nearby wall to the sound of the marksman's laughter "Why the shrahk couldn't you have told me that before I nearly died raiding that place?! In fact, why are you telling me now days afterwards?"

"That runt I picked up was just too captivating, I couldn't miss out on any fun I could have with him, but he broke yesterday so my schedule's gotten free. Honestly, so many fakes out there want to go torturing lads without the capacity to handle it themselves. I believe any torturer should be willing to take any and everything that another could do to them, else ya just look pathetic when the tables get turned. Runt was talking on and on about how much vengeance he'd enact upon me but not two hours into his first session and he's whimpering like a cub in a shark tank."

"For nothing... all for nothing..." The Looter repeated as Bubol began pacing.

"I mean when I told him I'd been feeding him his own bits I expected him to lash out and attack or something exciting like that, but then he just started crying and trying to get himself to throw up and it was amusing... just not as arousing as an angry reaction would've been, ya know? Guess I just expected him to hold on to that spite more than he did, won't even call out to his dead brother for help anymore. Can't even say he looks like my truest love Ruby anymore, I may have ruined that pale skin more than anticipated so-"

"So the first thing you do after getting bored of your catch is to just go prancing about in what many believe to be the most dangerous portion of the ship?" Uthug grumbled as he looked up at the grinning Uruk.

"Its fine lad, I sneak down here all the time! Ah hell I probably know the lay of the land down here more than I do things upstairs." Bubol lowered himself to one knee so they were back at eye level "If escaping Felgrat's boys gets the blood going, then running around these hunting grounds is enough to get me heated for my toys back at base!"

 _ **Bubol, never one to take urgency with anything beyond his lust. I'd say I'm disappointed at his usage of time in this scenario, but in hindsight I'm more disappointed in myself for not expecting this. However, this is perfect for our pursuits. A valuable source of information has presented itself, we need him.**_

 _I nearly died saving this wretch, are you positive we need him? He's just... so damned annoying._

 _ **I know... trust me I know, but we still need him. Besides, even with your unnatural aptitude for killing, Bubol is renown for getting the upper hand in unexpected ways. Just focus on our goals, he knows this area, we can use him.**_

Uthug sighed before finally rising to his feet "So, you know where-"

His words were interrupted when a makeshift spear slammed into his shoulder from behind and broke on his aura.

Grasping the point of impact, Uthug glared back to see the pack of Broken breaking out into frantic laughter.

"Another for the big boy! Another!"

A pustule covered hand latched onto the Looter's wrist and tugged him along "Come on! We can chat once we lose those poor souls back there. Not that I'm against conducting business in front of others, but-"

"I get it, just run!" Uthug yelled before pushing past Bubol "Before they find a way across!"

Bubol snickered as he watched Uthug pull ahead "Oh this gonna be so much fun! I've never had a partner while scurrying about down here before!"

* * *

 **City of Vale**

"Kinda surprised that you didn't wheel Blake out here with you."

Yang's thoughts were interrupted, and her eyes went from the sidewalk she was traveling along to the brown haired girl leading the way. Coco seemed to notice her distracted state and smirked "Still here with us, blondie?"

Realizing she'd been caught in the midst of letting her mind wander, she quickly glanced to her sides. Besides Velvet the rest of team CFVY seemed to not take note of her mental absence as they continued on their way.

The Brawler sighed "Well she's still in one of her moods and I've learned that rushing her at certain points can be pretty counter-productive." She stretched her arms before folding them behind her head "Yep, I'm pretty much an expert on Blakeology now. I know when to time my interventions to a tee, and now just isn't right. Besides, I don't think she's much of a sports bar type."

"That makes two of us." Fox mumbled

"Though unusual for lifestyles such as mine, I am willing to broaden my perspective for my teammates." Yatsuhashi commented

"Well I gotta tell ya," Coco shrugged "I was kinda surprised when you asked to join us. What with how much you and your team went through, I was convinced you kids would be spending the next few weeks getting all mushy and cuddly."

"Like I said, Blake's still gonna need some time to handle whatever personal biz is upsetting her." Yang folded her arms "Weiss has kinda doubled down on her studying now that we've got all this free time, and Ruby's been on a crusade to get her to hang out. And well..."

She suddenly wrapped one of her arms around the rabbit-faunus beside her "I was kinda hoping to check up on this one! We were cagemates for a while during the Arena!"

"It was only for a few hours, Yang." Velvet gave an awkward smile

"Ooh," Coco cooed back at them "I'm impressed Vel, slowly but surely you're becoming the social butterfly I always knew you were."

"What? No!" Velvet waved off the allegations as she slipped from Yang's grasp and rushed to catch up with her leader "I mean its great to hang out but I'm really not-"

"I can see it now, hon." Coco sighed wistfully as she gazed up to the sky "Surrounded by friends, partying it up, living the high life as everyone's favorite."

"That doesn't sound like me at all."

"Now I know at that point you won't need little ol' me anymore." Coco continued, much to the bunny-girl's embarrassment "But my mission will be complete."

Velvet rushed to deny her claims, much to both Coco and Yang's amusement. The brawler was content to watch their back and forth as they continued on their way. The backdrop of casual life around them made for great background noise. From the civilians to the cars passing on the nearby road, it was a type of relaxing Yang had been craving for a while.

A sudden nudge from her side brought her attention to Fox, who nodded towards the duo leading them "You sure ya wanna hang with us? They can go like this for hours... literal hours."

"Psh, compared to how Ruby and Weiss can get this is nothing." Yang waved him off as she continued looking ahead at the two. But as she watched the team leader continue to tease Velvet, the Brawler's smile dampened a bit.

"Actually," she glanced back to Fox "the fact that Velvet's here is kinda more intriguing than you two. I know we didn't hang out much before, but Velvet definitely doesn't seem like a sports bar type."

"She isn't." Yatsuhashi stated immediately, which only made Yang raise an eyebrow

"Well then how did you all convince her to come?"

Fox pointed to the backs of his teammates "That's how."

Yang tried to figure out what he was pointing at, but all she could see was Coco getting the Faunus girl embarrassed and flustered with her declarations as usual.

"Uh..."

"Focus, you'll see it." Fox encouraged, so Yang narrowed her eyes and really looked at the two.

Velvet's denials were cut off by Coco pressing a finger to her mouth and shaking her head before launching into another spiel about how good the Faunus could look if she tried. As Coco went on, Velvet's eyes traveled down to the finger pressed to her lips as her cheeks reddened. The second Coco pulled it away to shrug at the possibilities, Velvet immediately began to rub the color from her cheeks.

She didn't have much time to do so before Coco once more wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close whilst gesturing to a nearby clothing shop they were passing. The fashionista gave her teammate a slight noogie with her free hand before a certain outfit in the window of the nearby shop caught her eye and she released the Rabbit girl to point it out to the rest of them.

"Like this one," Coco said before glancing to them "full honesty guys, wouldn't Vel just destroy hearts in that?"

While Fox begrudgingly pointed out that he'd never imagine Velvet wearing something like it, Yang took a glance at the girl in question. Despite seeming like she wanted to continue refuting Coco's points, the Faunus went a bit silent as she rubbed the spot where Coco had noogied her and gave a small sigh.

It was as she turned a longing gaze back to Coco, now in the middle of an intense argument with Fox over the value of fishnets, that Yang was finally smacked upside the head with realization.

"Why must you refuse the power of bared skin?!" Coco shook her head towards Fox "Aren't guys supposed to have an appreciation for the intimacies of chicks doing their best to look good?"

"Maybe, who cares? I'm trying to prepare myself for this bar of yours, and every stop is another chink in the armor."

"Aw, do you really have such little faith in me and my interests? It'll be fine, they play the hottest comps, have delicious drinks and the ribs can actually put you in a catatonic state if you are unprepared for the sheer power of the flavor."

"That... is called a heart attack." Fox deadpanned

"Pfft, don't wuss out on me Fox." Coco smirked before reaching over and once more pulling Velvet to her "If Vel over here's got the guts to stomach it then I'm expecting you to be-"

"But she doesn't!" Fox emphasized before glancing to the Faunus in question "Vel, come on! I once saw you get horrified at the prospect of returning an overdue book at the library during the day because you thought you'd get called out in front of everybody."

"Well... If Coco's sure it'll be fine then I'm... almost positive I'll be fine. Like you guys say this place is just for sports fans and people who like hanging out. How bad could it be?"

Yang and Fox shared a look before Coco stepped forward and waved off their concerns "Look I get it guys, but she'll have us there with her if things go sour. Its all good."

With that, the Fashionista turned back and continued leading the way with Velvet quickly following after her.

"So..." Yang jerked a thumb to the two "how long has that been a thing?"

"Since the Arena." Yatsuhashi replied immediately as he turned his even stare to his comrades "Velvet has always admired our leader's confidence, but it would seem that admiration has developed into something far more-"

"Annoying." Fox interjected "Velvet's been getting all mushy with Coco, more so than ever before! And now me and the big guy here have to watch her not so subtly hint towards her intentions 24/7."

"Wait, Coco doesn't know?" Yang glanced back to the duo before whispering to the guys "But... its kinda blatant."

"We know!" the pale-eyed boy exclaimed "I don't know if Coco's just playing dumb or legitimately never thought this kinda crap could happen, but she's been none the wiser. Do you have any idea how annoying it is watching one person pine for another so obviously yet the target of their affection doesn't notice jack no matter how obvious it should be?! Its maddening!"

"Just give them some time, Fox." Yatsuhashi gave a small hum of thought "Coco is no fool, she will catch on eventually."

"Eventually is not _now_. Even while we were doing that make up homework for Goodwitch, Velvet was asking Coco questions that we all know she knew! Even Coco knew that she knew but was just so damn pleased with getting to show off that she went with it!"

"Letting things develop naturally is the far healthier option for them and you know it."

"What about what's far healthier for me? I wouldn't care if they'd keep it on the down low but Vel is just so terrible at discretion that it's actually infuriating."

"Hey guys! We're here!"

The three turned to see Coco gesturing to an average looking shop up ahead. There was nothing off about it, seemed like a restaurant but with a far more casual feel. When they got closer, Yang took a peek in through one of the windows. It was oddly tinted to go with the over all color scheme, but she could make out several things. It really did look more like a bar on the inside, with the addition of televisions portraying competitions and patrons cheering on their teams.

When the tournament starts, its places like these where fans who couldn't be there in person will watch. Team CFVY and most of their friends would be up on screen tearing it up. Yang wasn't one to dwell on the fact that she and her team wouldn't be joining them, though it would've been fun. She actually felt like she'd had more fighting in the past few months than she'd ever get from the tournament, so it was easy for her to enjoy some down time. And she didn't need fame, since the spat with the Uruks had kinda gotten their names spread around.

Everyone at Beacon knew that her sister and co. had traveled the continent to take on the Uruk-Hai leaders themselves just to save their comrade in arms. It was one of the few reasons Yang was glad Blake was staying at the hospital to recover, as she didn't know how the quiet Faunus would handle the sudden notoriety. Weiss may not have had to deal with the brunt of it due to her renewed penchant for studying, and Ruby's spent a lot of time trying to change that, but Yang was more than ready to bask in the limelight.

After all, she'd been captured by the enemy, she was like a veteran in the eyes of her fellow students. Sure she may have embellished here and there occasionally when recounting the harrowing times she spent under lock and key, but the eyes of adoration from the listeners made it all worth it. Heck, who needed a tournament when you had the notoriety of a returned P.O.W?

That doesn't mean she wasn't fully ready to cheer her friends on though. When Ruby wasn't busy with Weiss, she and Yang were mostly helping the others train for their bouts. In fact, her little sister would probably be helping Team JNPR out right now if it wasn't that _time_. Ruby was gone, going to visit Summer's grave with dad before the tournament started. Yang never went with her, it was Ruby's thing and she would never impose on something sacred like that.

"Yep, place looks just as loud as I expected." Fox folded his arms as he gave the place a skeptical look

"Although it seems well acclimated to its target audience." Yatsuhashi admitted before turning his gaze to his partner "But are you sure this is your type of locale?"

Under the large boy's gaze, Velvet faltered before looking to both Yang and Fox. Yang shot her what she hoped was a supportive smile to counter the pessimistic look Fox was sporting.

Velvet looked somewhat nervous under their combined gazes, and immediately turned to Coco only to find the Fashionista looking down at her with a curious smile.

"I mean, we don't have to hang here." Coco shrugged before glancing down the street "There are several other pretty good clothing stores around here, we can go on a little spree."

"No!" Velvet said suddenly before giving a shaky smile and approaching the bar's main entrance "I'm sure I'll have a great time! Don't be silly, we'll laugh about this afterwards!"

Though she said that, she froze mid-stride as the front door opened. Out from the door stepped Russel Thresh of Team CRDL in what looked like jogging gear, who paused immediately upon spotting the Faunus before him.

It was immediate, Russel's eyes narrowed into a glare as Velvet's friends hurried to her side, but before anyone could do anything a yell from inside the bar could be heard.

"Come on Lark!" Cardin's yelling could be heard approaching accompanied by heavy breathing "We aren't even halfway done for today! Move move move!"

A tired and disheveled Sky Lark stumbled from the bar onto his hands and knees, the large form of Cardin stomping past him as his teammate caught his breath. Both were dressed in similar attire to Russel's, and Cardin was in the middle of wiping some sweat from his brow using his shirt "Russel, you were supposed to lead on, the hell are you doing?"

Russel didn't speak, merely nodding his head forward and finally drawing Winchester's attention to the group gathered before them. Almost immediately he groaned "Adel."

"Cardin." Coco responded evenly "You and the boys often do your training in bars?"

Cardin glanced back to Sky, who was still trying to catch his breath, before shrugging "Just a little pit stop, we gotta get back on the march. Wouldn't even be here if _somebody_ could keep their shit together!"

Sky finally pushed himself back onto his knees and gave an exasperated whine "Come on man, we've been at it for hours!"

"We've been doing this for months Lark, if I wasn't gonna show leniency then I sure as hell ain't doing it now." Cardin shook his head before turning forward again

Sky leaned forward once more and gave another heave as someone else exited the establishment. It was Dove Bronzewing, who was wearing dress clothes topped with a vest. For some reason he seemed like the only member of Team CRDL who wasn't showing signs of fatigue, and he was actually holding a glass which he swirled as he casually strolled out of the establishment.

"How are you doing this well!?" Sky demanded "You're the laziest one of us here!"

"The trick to being lazy is not avoiding work." Dove explained as he kneeled beside his teammate and looked over the drink in his grasp "Its doing just enough where you can't be faulted for not doing more."

He punctuated that by taking a sip of his drink, which seemed to anger his downed comrade.

"Is he even allowed to do that?!" Sky called out

Cardin glanced back "Do what?"

Sky looked to Dove only to find the glass and its contents missing "Wuh-?"

"He's just dehydrated." Dove grinned as he stood and took his place at Cardin's side "Are we gonna continue with this farce of a regiment or-"

He noticed the group waiting in front of the him and sneered "-or are we stopping to feed the strays?"

"How about it Cardin?" Coco turned her attention to Winchester as she folded her arms "Are you?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Yang saw the rest of Velvet's team cast their own glares towards Cardin and his boys as they waited an answer. Despite being sort of on a break from fighting, the Brawler secretly hoped that Cardin was still stupid enough to try something. He and his goons may not have been acting up for a while, but the Blonde could still remember a plethora of times they'd screwed around with her friends.

While Sky seemed too exhausted to join in on potential teasing, the shit-eating grin Dove sported was enough for both of them. Russel seemed disinterested, and was doing some strange, jerky motions with his hands that was at odds with the bored annoyance that marred his features.

Surprisingly, Cardin answered with a gruff shake of the head "We don't have time! We're already off schedule because of Lark!"

"Hey cut me some slack!"

Cardin ignored him and clapped his hands together "Come on boys, move move move!"

"And so another beautiful opportunity is wasted." Dove sighed as he gave a small stretch "Remember when we used to have fun?"

"Shut up, let's just do this." Russel snapped before taking off in a jog, still doing those odd hand gestures even as he ran.

"I remember you having quite a strong sense of humor."

"I remember you being the first to run off and leave me to die." Cardin grumbled as he shoved Dove in Russel's direction

"Mere misunderstandings continue to plague me it would seem." Dove shrugged before giving a casual jog after his teammate.

Cardin gave the assembled students one last half-glare before picking up Sky and ushering him after the others.

Coco looked after them for a moment before glancing back "You okay?"

To the Fashionista's surprise, Velvet pushed past her with ease before approaching the front doors and turning back to them "Come on, we're supposed to be having a day out here. I won't let it be ruined by guys like that."

Coco searched her expression for a moment before smiling and following after, "That's my girl."

Yang was about to follow as well, until a sharp inhale of breath brought her attention to Fox. The pale-eyed boy was holding onto his wrist with an annoyed expression on his face.

"What's wrong?" the blonde asked

"The second I stood near her Vel gripped onto me for support," he explained with a groan "now I'm all for being there for her when she needs it but this.."

He removed his other hand to reveal that there were several bruise marks where Velvet had grabbed him "... this goes beyond just being there for a pal!"

Yatsuhashi glanced over it as well before watching as his partner and Team Leader entered the bar "One can only imagine what power she'd possess if she truly conquered her fears."

Minutes later, Yang sat with the two boys at a certain table, looking over rather well-crafted menus depicting a selection of food as Coco and Velvet approached the bar. The whooping and roaring of several customers whose eyes seemed locked on a play by play of some sport in Vacuo seemed to give the Faunus pause, but upon seeing Coco weave through them towards the bartender effortlessly she seemed to steel herself before following behind.

The employee seemed to recognize Coco, as they both smiled and exchanged pleasantries before the fashionista nodded towards the nozzles he was working nearby. As he turned to grab a glass, Velvet finally spoke up. Though Yang couldn't hear what she said, the way the Faunus raised two fingers and glanced to her leader spoke volumes. Once the Bartender left to fill their orders, Coco grew a concerned expression and seemed to question her teammate, but Velvet merely waved off her concerns.

"Its literally been like this all day every day since we got her back." Fox complained as he sighed and glanced to Yang "Think you can do something about it?"

"What?" the Blonde's head shot up quick at that "Why me?!"

"Because, besides Coco, you seem to have the most broad social climate. I've never even cared for romance before and Yatsu's the pinnacle of monk-living, surely you can just get them to hash it out straightforward and nice-like."

"Well," Yang leaned back in her seat and gave a smirk "before Beacon I was quite the catch. And I may have helped several people get together, but this seems a bit specific. You've got one person who only seems to be giving hints that are pretty apparent to everybody except her and her target. Honestly, I'm more surprised someone like Coco wouldn't notice. She always seemed to keep a level head when it came to others. If she's not noticing it now I'm not sure I could nudge her into figuring it out without saying it blatantly to her face. Maybe she just never thought to worry about it from someone like Vel."

Fox groaned, beside him Yatsu merely folded his hand upon his menu and looked down to his teammate evenly "I assure you, this is not something that can be rushed through external means. We must allow Velvet to overcome her hesitation on her own."

"Even if that means letting her get called out in class because she wasted the whole lecture staring at Coco?"

"Yes."

"Even if we'll get stuck in this one-sided romance routine while banking solely on the notion that she'll just man the fuck up and go through with it?"

"Yes."

"And even if that same routine means we'll have to pick up her slack during the tournament in the event she gets distracted by our resident fashion icon?"

"Exactly."

Fox narrowed his eyes at the calm demeanor of his large friend before shaking his head "Yeah, fuck that." he turned back to Yang "You're saying the problem is that we don't have anyone with experience in stuff like this? Well then I once again turn to you as our resident social butterfly, surely you know someone who understands this kinda thing?"

"I dunno, I'm more of a hang out kind of friend than one you go spewing personal secrets to. " Yang shrugged "Hell, for all I know I'm friends with tons of dudes and gals who just love playing home."

"What about your teammates or their friends?"

"Dude, I sure as hell don't know what my team's friends are like in that department."

"Could you at least ask?"

"So you want me... to go around asking my sister and classmates about the love lives of both them and their associates, specifically so you can use them to get your own teammates to hook up?"

"Yes!"

The two sat in silence for a while, staring at each other as Yatsuhashi resumed looking through the menu with a sigh.

 **.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.**

Weiss had been enjoying a moment of silence, reclining on a bench near a park in the City of Vale when a sudden noise interrupted her quiet time. Reaching down, the Heiress pulled a scroll from her pocket and checked the caller before rolling her eyes and answering.

"Hey! What's up sis? You and Dad having a good time?" the voice of Yang spoke with a noticeable nervous tinge.

"Yang, its me."

There was a moment of silence before the blonde responded with, "What are you doing with Ruby's scroll?"

Weiss checked her nails as she sighed "Well, our fearless leader was so excited for her little trip that she left it right on her nightstand. She managed to not only hop onto a ship but make it halfway home without even realizing she'd forgotten it. Called me about two hours later using her Father's scroll to keep it safe for her."

"But why'd she ask you? I've kept her stuff safe when she forgot it before!"

Weiss rolled her eyes "And apparently you've left such a bad impression that she'd call upon my assistance instead."

She held the scroll away from her ear as the Brawler released a disappointed whine, "Aw man, seems you've already gotten closer to supplanting me, Schnee. I can't say I didn't see it coming, but the reality of it stings far more than I ever could've anticipated."

"You're overreacting."

"Take care of her Weiss! Do what I... just wasn't good enough to!"

With a sad little sniffle, the call cut off, leaving a thoroughly unamused Weiss to put the device away and try to relax again.

Unfortunately, the second she leaned back another chime snapped her to full attention before she immediately dug in her pockets to retrieve her own scroll. Upon checking the caller, the heiress narrowed her gaze before answering.

"Yang!"

"Hey!" the Blonde cheered before snickering and continuing "What's up Weiss? You having a good day?"

"You better have a good reason for-"

"Do you consider yourself to be a social person?"

"...what?"

"Would you say you have a lot of friends? Do you feel as though you know those friends?"

Weiss blinked before shaking her head and leaning back "Yang, what's with this questioning? Planning to make lien giving questionnaires?"

"No I just... I-" the Blonde stammered a bit before snickering "Hey Weiss, what would you say if I asked if you knew any... uh... How's your stance on romance?"

"No comment."

"Know anybody in relationships?"

"Its not really something I would bring up in conversation, Yang."

"Okay, but do you know one?"

Weiss just sighed as she noticed a bird pass by "Yes, Yang. These things tend to happen when a bunch of young people live in close proximity to each other."

"Nice nice, and uh... would you happen to know if any of them..."

Weiss waited as Yang went silent for a moment, and the Heiress let her gaze travel to a car passing a nearby gate for a moment as she waited for her teammate to continue.

"Weiss? Does Yang require you for something urgent?"

The White-Haired youth lowered her scroll and glanced to the legs beside her. Standing on the bench at her side was Penny, who had been using her elevated position to scan passing civilians.

Ever since she'd reunited with Ruby, Penny seemed to make it her mission to get both her and her partner up to date on the Friendship Techniques she'd learned from Krimp. As such, whenever the three of them could get together they'd spend their free time going over these techniques in the field. But with Ruby gone, Weiss had hoped Penny would tone down the enthusiasm to a much more manageable level.

She had been wrong.

"Don't worry about it Penny, just keep looking for more _acquaintances_." Weiss waved off the red-head's concerns before frowning as Yang's voice came up again "Hopefully this won't take long."

Penny glanced down to see the Heiress's expression tightening further as her teammate spoke, but she knew better than to pry into a friend's personal business.

That was something she learned from Krimp! He had gone over her initial approach with her and pointed out how intrusive she could be, it had been extremely embarrassing at the time. But now she was certain that that critique alone had improved her friend-making talents by a minimum of twenty four percent!

As she continued looking among the few people in the park, Penny's smile reignited as she went over their individual motions. Forming friendships used to seem like an insurmountable task to her, negated partially by meeting her best friend Ruby. But Krimp made it all easier, explained it in ways none of her other pals could ever hope to explain it. Suddenly she was a social goddess, making friends among people of all walks of life without fail. It had been shocking how simple it was to go over the methods she'd need for each individual person just by looking at them.

That man over there with the hat looks disappointed, and Penny could tell from his stance and expression that she would need to approach him with an understanding yet cheerful demeanor in order to simultaneously negate his negative feelings while also establishing positive ones whenever he saw her.

That woman with the cigarette would easily allow her into her social circle as long as Penny constantly acted impressed by her excessive accessories, and her lackeys looked like they wouldn't feel threatened by her if she simply acted like a klutz.

The boy just wants someone to agree with him, his mother wants someone to make him feel more included, the husband just wants a distraction from stress at home.

Penny could see it all, could picture herself acquiescing to each and every one of those requirements with practiced ease. Krimp's System was something far more all-encompassing than any other explanation she'd received so far. What seemed like unapproachable obstacles at first were just minor speed-bumps to the green-eyed youth, ones that she could slip past with little-resistance.

Maybe if she were alone she would've gone through each of these motions already but one of her students was here!

She looked back down to Weiss, who now seemed to be in a heated argument with Yang over her scroll. Krimp's System was very descriptive of methods on listening in when your friends don't think you are. Most friends really enjoy their privacy, and any good friend must respect that. However, they're far more prone to let things slip when they believe they are having private times. And those little tidbits could always be put to use in the pursuit of more friends.

Penny wasn't as good at Krimp at this part, this she knew for certain. The amount of stuff the Uruk managed to pick up on without her knowledge was always impressive! She wanted her students to think that way when she made good use of his System. They'd asked her to teach them all about what Krimp taught her, and what kind of friend would she be if she dissapointed them?

But Weiss never seemed impressed by what Penny taught, she'd always get these bitter looks when Penny began pointing out how to properly utilize Krimp's system. But Penny was ashamed to say that the amazed look in Ruby's eyes would overshadow that every time. When she pointed out things the Red Reaper would never have picked up on, Penny always felt fulfilled in ways she never knew she needed. When Ruby was here, she always focused on her far more than her other friend.

Even with Krimp's explanation of how best friends worked, Penny still felt bad about how she was handling this. But Ruby couldn't show up because of personal reasons, so Penny had no opportunity to play favorites. This time, she'll make sure Weiss knew just how much she was valued as one of her friends!

Which means she had to look for a perfect candidate for today's lesson, had to make sure it was really poignant.

But just as she resumed her search, a scoff to her side made her turn back to Weiss just as she pocketed her scroll and leaned back with a sigh. Penny bit her lip for a moment, she could search for the perfect candidate later. Good friends are there when others need them!

"Is everything alright Weiss?" she asked as she finally sat down in the bench properly

"Yes yes, Yang just seems to have gotten herself embroiled in some ridiculous romantic escapade." the Heiress sighed

"Romantic?" Penny tilted her head and searched her memory for a second before her eyes shot wide open and she grinned "Oh! You mean love? Is Yang dealing with love? We could make that a topic for one of our meet ups!"

"Let's not lose focus here Penny," Weiss looked up to her "you're supposed to inform us about what Krimp's taught you."

"Krimp taught me about love!"

Weiss straightened up with a raised eyebrow "Excuse me? He taught you about that too?" she shook her head "Penny, its getting more and more uncomfortable for me to think of the specifics of your relationship when you word things like that."

"Understanding love is necessary for making friends!" Penny pointed out with a cheerful grin " So many friends are affected by it! Just look over there!"

She directed the Heiress's attention to the family she'd noticed earlier, the parents were both trying to console their upset son "Just look at how similarly they approach the situation! Romance often has people adopt characteristics from the subjects of their affection, but they can just as easily develop differences if the relationship sours. Therefore, potential friends have to keep track of the relationship itself in order to maintain relations with the individuals it governs!"

Weiss huffed at that explanation before folding her arms "I suppose, I guess I'm just not used to the idea of you being more romantically educated than I."

"Oh I'm sure you're better at this than I, you're Weiss Schnee!" Penny exclaimed "You're a social marvel!"

"Doesn't mean I ever got used to the idea of romance." Weiss shrugged before looking away "I was always under the impression I'd end up with whoever could produce the most exceptional heir possible. If only my thick-headed teammate could anticipate that. Honestly, how much longer until we find these perfect candidates of yours? I have to go make sure my unfortunately suggestible partner doesn't do something we'll all regret. As helpful as she is, I'm sure you've noticed she has a habit of letting herself get roped into wild hi-jinks."

"True, she has many weak points." Penny folded her arms and nodded "Even with how sociable Yang is, all anybody really needs to do is get on good terms with Ruby to have access to her."

Weiss looked at her with raised eyebrow for a moment before narrowing her eyes "So... I take it Krimp's taught you that as well?"

"Yep! And I really do love Ruby, she's a true bestie who I will always enjoy being close to, but she's far less accustomed to social suggestion than someone like Yang is. By Krimp's System, that means earning positive points with her means gaining affiliation with Yang with less of the necessary pre-planning."

Though Penny was happy to go over more for her student, she found her smile fading once she noticed the deep frown etched into Weiss's face. The Heiress looked down at the ground in silent thought for a moment, and Penny felt herself deflate a little bit. But that was before she spotted them. Two candidates... no, four of them!

And from the varying expressions on each of their faces, she could tell that they were a perfect group for her to display Krimp's system on.

"Them!" she suddenly said with an enthusiastic whisper as she quickly stood from the bench

Weiss was slightly startled by the sudden shift in tone, and as Penny got up she followed the other girl's eyes towards-

"Wait, Penny that's-!"

But unfortunately Penny was already in the midst of putting her plan into action. Altering her speed and clutching her hands together, the ginger adopted a worried look before hurrying past a rather well kept fountain. She ended up rushing right into the path of one of her targets, crashing into the jogging boy who stood his ground.

Russel shook off the daze quickly before glaring down at the pained girl at his feet, but before he could lay into her for not looking where she was going, the sound of approaching footsteps from behind brought his attention to a chuckling Dove.

"My, you were the last person I'd expect to let girls get in the way of our training." the smirking boy said as he came to a stop and gestured towards him "Weren't you the one latching to Cardin's plans for the Tournament?"

"She got in front of me!" the mo-hawked boy bit, even as he resumed making odd motions with his hands

"And if that was enough to take you by surprise I don't understand how you plan on making it to the finals."

Before Russel even had a chance to take his teammate's bait, Penny spoke up "Sorry! I'm super sorry!"

"You better be!" Russel growled before being nudged out of the way by Dove.

"Excuse my comrade, he's a rather passionate sort." Dove explained before looking Penny up and down and offering a hand "I take it he didn't harm you too much?"

"No, I'm fine." Penny nodded before allowing him to help her up "Really, it was all my fault."

Not too far away, Weiss was stationed behind a tree, thoroughly not enjoying how this 'lesson' had turned out so far. Of all the people Penny had to pick for an example it just had to be members of Team CRDL. No, not just some of them. Far behind the boys the heiress could spy the other two. Sky was struggling to continue moving despite the demands Cardin kept shouting at him. She could only anticipate that things would spiral farther into unsavory tactics once they caught up with the others.

Yes, Cardin and his cronies were nowhere near as petulant as they were back near the beginning of their stay at Beacon, but that didn't mean they were anywhere close to tolerable. After the incident with Jaune and the Ursa, their hateful nature seemed to turn inwards. They spent just as much time aggravating each other as they did everyone else. Cardin especially had become more strict with the others, spiteful due to his teams abandonment of him during the incident. As such, they were actually the most common team to be found in Beacon's training halls. It kept them out of everyone else's hair for the most part, but the team was more than willing to remind any student who drew near how much they looked down on them.

And yet Penny had simply thrown herself to them like it was nothing. If Weiss was less of a cynic, perhaps she could see this act as bravery instead of idiocy. As she watched Penny converse with Dove and Russel, she waited for the boot to drop. She could see even from her position that Russel was fuming the longer they talked. And Dove, well... Dove had become a rather odd case since the Ursa incident. From how she'd seen Team CRDL act it almost seemed like Cardin had started despising him the most, but she had never gotten close enough to the team to learn why.

"I was actually looking for a store," Penny confessed before tilting her head daintily "I heard they had a sale on something that I really need."

"What store?" Dove asked as he combed his fingers through his hair "Perhaps me and my cohort can assist you."

"What?!" Russel asked immediately, his hand gestures momentarily becoming erratic.

"Sure, we were in the midst of something." the boy waved off his teammate's concerns while shooting Penny a subtle wink "But a few moments is nothing for a sweetheart like yourself."

Russel rolled his eyes with a groan of distaste, making Dove's grin widen further.

"Oh! Well I actually have it written down right here." Penny revealed a note that Weiss was positive she didn't have before.

Dove took a look at it with her, but soon Penny adopted an embarrassed look "I scribbled it quickly, sorry if its a bit-"

Russel glanced over their shoulders "How the hell do you manage to misspell _Diet_?"

Penny silently pouted at that, but Dove was quick to act "Russel please," he shook his head before glancing back at her "Ignore him, he has quite the extreme appreciation for memory. Me and my team have actually been to this specific establishment a couple times. We used to get protein from there, but found another store with better stuff."

"Really?" Penny looked up with a hopeful expression "I actually need protein! Where do you guys get your stuff?"

Dove placed his hands on his hips and grew a cocky smile "Well~"

"Wait," Russel interrupted, halting his motions "what do you need protein for?"

Dove was about to reprimand him again, but paused upon realizing the validity of his question.

"More like 'why the hell aren't you asshats still running!?'"

The three turned to see Cardin approaching, practically dragging a fully exhausted Sky Lark behind him.

"Honestly, I have to babysit this shrimp for five seconds and you two-!" Cardin paused upon letting his gaze fall upon Penny, and he immediately released Sky.

"What are you doing with her?" he asked as Sky stumbled to the nearby fountain and fell against it before panting for more air.

"Well, if you must know-" Dove began

"Dove's just trying to hit on some random chick who needs protein for some reason." Russel stated as he resumed the odd motions

Dove's smirk disappeared for a moment as he glared at Russel, who returned the glare in kind "I'm simply trying to aid a woman who you couldn't help but bowl over."

"Don't you-!"

"Of course she wants protein." Cardin shook his head before folding his arms "Her team's on the roster for the tournament. She's probably scoping out competition."

Dove blinked before turning back to Penny, who gave an embarrassed little giggle as Russel joined Cardin in glaring at her.

"Comp-uh?" Sky struggled to stand before stumbling into the back of his Team Leader "She-... who? What's she-?"

"Is he gonna be okay?" Penny asked

"Get off of me!" Cardin shrugged his teammate off before jabbing a finger towards her "What exactly were you digging for girlie? And don't try any bullshit, these idiots might be dumb as bricks but your routine won't work on-"

"Excuse me?" Russel turned his glare on the taller boy "This bitch can't even remember how to spell diet, let alone pull one over on me. Dove's the one letting his dick do the talking."

"Russel, I appreciate your willingness to make me seem like some kind of sexual chimera." Dove shook his head "But we all know that out of all of us you'd be the most likely to fall victim to any form of subterfuge."

He glanced back to Penny "That is, if our esteemed leader truly is correct in his assumption that this beauty here is truly trying to take us for a ride."

Penny shot him a grateful smile before stepping forward, "I'm sorry, I never evaluated the roster. My team may not see it the same way, but I wanted my opponents to be a surprise!"

The anger in Cardin's eyes seemed to give way to disbelief "A surprise?"

"Yeah! I can see how it may seem suspicious, but this is actually great!" Penny clapped her hands together enthusiastically before leaning forward a bit "From what I hear, your team and mine actually have quite similar ideas for training! Maybe if I pitch it to them, we can all work out together! Then we can all enjoy a friendly battle when the tournament comes around!"

She looked between the members of Team CRDL for several seconds before Cardin started laughing. Even Weiss could hear the mocking inflection to his chuckles, but Penny maintained an optimistic expression as he began walking towards her.

"So," Cardin held back his chuckles long enough to cross his arms "you're their water girl?"

Penny and his comrades seemed somewhat confused until Dove shook his head and gave Cardin an incredulous look "And here I was thinking you wouldn't be abrest to such terms. Still doesn't mean a generalization like that would-"

"Oh! You mean literally!" Penny clapped her hands together and smiled up at Cardin "In which case, I have indeed acquired beverages for my team before."

Cardin held back a snicker.

Russel merely rolled his eyes before glaring at Dove, who quickly tidied up his hair a bit before glancing away "I've been wrong before."

"Come on guys, she ain't nothing." Cardin pushed past her and continued down the path, snapping his fingers as he did "Russ, make sure Sky's not dragging his feet. Someone else's turn to play babysitter."

"What?!" Sky tried shouting through his panting as Russel walked over and grabbed his arm "But we barely got to enjoy our break!"

As the mo-hawked boy dragged his teammate past Penny after their leader, a nudge to her side brought the orange-haired girl's gaze back to Dove.

"If you're really serious about that whole group work out thing," he quickly passed her a card "call me sometimes. We'll talk to our respective teams, maybe you and I can meet up now and then to hash it out."

"That would be wonderful!" Penny nodded as he turned to join his teammates "Thank you for understanding!"

Even as Dove waved back, he could feel Russel glaring at him "Only you would literally try business cards as a legitimate pick-up tactic."

"Class survived this long for a reason, my dear ruffian." Dove chuckled as they passed a tree "Maybe one day you'll be smart enough to let me educate you."

Penny continued waving at the four boys until they vanished behind several large hedges, for that was when a bitter looking Weiss finally emerged from her hiding spot and stomped her way over to her.

"Out of all the people, it just had to be them?" the heiress demanded as she came to a stop in front of Penny "Them?!"

"Sorry Weiss, but I needed a group with dispositions varied enough to give you a properly educational lesson!"

"I had to stand behind that tree and watch them lambaste you for the past few minutes!" Weiss stated "I don't know all about what Krimp's been teaching you about friends, but my definition doesn't involve throwing them to the wolves! And what have you to show for it? Half of them were suspicious of you the entire time, another was trying to seduce you, and I don't even think Sky noticed you for the entire time!"

"And that's why we're having this lesson, Weiss!" Penny placed her hands on her hips and smirked "This interaction actually went swimmingly! In less than five minutes I was able to switch their dispositions of me out of the negative zone!"

"Into what? A sub-negative zone?"

"Nope, the way Krimp puts it is that I've planted little tiny seeds with this interaction. And carefully managing the next few will help me determine how it grows! See, Cardin and Russel were suspicious, but now they don't see me as a threat due to an air of incompetence! Its very important for friends who are defensive towards outsiders. I just had to get them to lower those defenses by weakening the outward appearance of my offenses."

"And to do that you acted like a linguistically challenged dunce who gets pushed around by her teammates?" Weiss shook her head "Where did you even get that note? I didn't see it on you while we were... Wait."

Weiss could remember a small moment that jumped out at her right that very moment while going through the scenes between the beginning of Penny's performance. When she was rushing to intercept Russel, there had been a split moment where she'd clasped her hands together. But Weiss hadn't been able to see her hands exactly.

"Did you write that note while you were rushing Russel?"

"Yep! And with only a bit of hurried scrawl and a descent portrayal of naivety, I managed to sell a line of reasoning that gets me closer and closer to the eventuality of friendship!"

Weiss narrowed her eyes at that "And what about Dove? No offense Penny, but I never took you for a flirty type. Now unless you're telling me that Krimp taught you that as well-"

"He did."

"Elaborate!" Weiss demanded "How would he have any use for feminine seduction?! In the disguises I've seen him in he can barely pass off as an extremely large man, people can only be so fooled by a charming demeanor!"

"He never needed it for himself, silly." Penny giggled before raising her pointer finger "But you forget that Krimp has a lot of friends, and an extremely good memory to boot. He never meant to incorporate it into his system, but once I was taken under his wing he was adamant that one should use every advantage they have in the pursuit of friendship. He said that my outgoing personality would make a bit of teasing here and there extremely natural-looking."

"And Sky, you literally said one thing to the guy!"

"Its not about how many seeds you plant Weiss, I was able to portray a concern for his well-being that his other teammates lacked at the moment. Even if little progress was made, the next interaction has been made easier! Its very logical!"

Weiss sighed before looking away in the direction the boys had left, shaking her head a bit before turning back to Penny "But don't you feel degraded? Even if you do end up becoming friends with them, you've had to act like a gullible imbecile while also having to entertain some pervert's desires. How is friendship supposed to make up for all these hurdles?"

Penny placed a finger to her cheek for a moment before shooting Weiss a nervous smile "I admit I'm nowhere near as enthusiastic about this as Krimp was, but I really do like making friends, Weiss. Its comforting to know that others enjoy having you around. I'm not the most popular person, but I greatly enjoy the presence of others! Its exciting to have relations with tons of different people, if only to learn about them."

"But doing it this way means forming relations based on lies, Penny. That's all this is, manipulation and lies."

Penny frowned at that, but suddenly grew a stern look as she hardened her stance "You may not get it, Weiss, since you never seemed like one to hunt after friends so relentlessly like I do. But this works. I'm being liked because of it. Before I always came on too strongly or came out with nothing. I was never able to fit into the categories that people like or want." The green-eyed girl gave Weiss a determined look "But I don't have to worry about that now. And when I get better, I'll never have to worry about not fitting conditions ever again."

Penny's expression gave way to one of genuine joy as she surprised Weiss with an unexpected hug, picking the heiress off the ground despite her hasty protests "Now that I make the conditions, I can befriend anyone!"

* * *

 **Pug-Bringer Studios**

"And so after collecting the firewood, I came back home with my head held high. I mean, Mom had been on my ass for weeks about shirking duties to hit on the florist chick so obviously she'd be proud I'd actually followed through for once."

A figure pushed open a door, wiping sweat from his brow as he hefted the bushel of wood on his back. He moved to call out, but the sight within had him paralyzed with shock.

"But woe and behold that at that very moment my parents had the gall to get killed by some ruffians."

Several thugs stood over the still forms of a man and a woman, all of them turning to look at the young man.

"Now I might be a hunk of meat and muscle now, but back then? Pfft, I was full ready to haul my shit outta there, but these guys had other plans."

The young man was wrestled to the ground, muscled arms forcing him into the kitchen, where a much larger man was waiting with the blood of his parents decorating some rather flashy survival gear.

"So this big guy said he had plans for me, and quickly called to his woman, so she comes strutting in with a case of Hardlight-brand alcohol and-"

"Hold up! Hold right the fuck up!"

Banz grumbled as he turned away from the scene developing in front of him and to Melanie, who had been watching the scene with growing disbelief. The actors groaned as lights came on, revealing the scene to have been created from barely held together planks of wood and busted furniture. Militia, who was about to enter with a case of Hardlight, merely tossed the case to the 'Bandit Leader' before turning on her sister "What the hell, sis?!"

"Hardlight was made two years ago, how the hell did it exist back when you were a teen?" Melanie glared at Banz, only for her sister to scoff

"Does it matter?"

"If we're giving the audience a background story, do you really think a major continuity error like that would go unnoticed?"

"I thought these guys purchased ad-space?" the Clown grumbled as he scratched his head and nodded towards the case of beer.

"So you're just gonna slip it into your backstory?!"

The rapper looked around for a moment before shrugging "Yeah... why not?"

Melanie scoffed before looking around, they had assembled this poor excuse for a set right in the middle of the dance floor, where they usually performed their many hit songs.

"Why are we even doing this?! " She asked the Masqueraders, who made up pretty much the entire cast and crew for this production "Shouldn't you guys be singing about random crap?"

A giggle from a nearby chair brought her attention to Rolo, who flicked some of his tangled hair as he reclined further "Online poll says the fans want to know what our esteemed singer's early life was like, lololololol."

"And we had to suspend new songs and spend all day having a bunch of drunk idiots try to put this together for that!?"

"You forget that even our repeat tunes are mostly top fifty contenders, I don't see anyone complaining." Rolo sat up "And besides, watching a couple of drunk idiots try to do anything tickles most people's funny bone."

"But why do I have to play the guy that gets his shit kicked in!?" Grimm Bunny grumbled as he shook off the 'Bandits'

Banz shrugged "You kinda remind me of me when I was little."

"Stop complaining," GB looked down to one of his 'Parents' "I'm down here playing a corpse kiddo."

"We're supposed to be a music studio!" Melanie bit "Why couldn't you guys just make a bio page or something?"

"Far less entertaining, I assure you, lolololol" Rolo pointed out as he stood "But if its really such a problem for you, how about we make this a musical?"

"What?"

"Hell yeah!" Banz raised his arms before pointing to the 'Bandit Leader' "Bust open those fuckin' bottles baby, I'm about to freestyle the most epic backstory of all time!"

"That's not how backstories work!" Melanie tried to yell, but her voice was overwhelmed by the cheers of the Masqueraders as Hardlight liquor caps were tossed to the ground and Rolo began producing some beats.

Mealnie sighed as the scene began again, only with everyone moving to the sound of Banz's singing "Shouldn't you tell Bigsby before you go switching the day's performance like that?"

"As long as the viewers are entertained, he won't give a shit, lolololol." Rolo pointed out as he danced by "Besides, he's got meetings today."

"Which means you guys get to act wild and trash this place again, right?"

"Now you're catching on, lolololol!"

Once again the white themed youth released a sigh as she turned away from the musical and left the dance floor. She made her way back into the back halls of their studio, with the pounding sound of music dulled by the walls.

"Krimp!" she called out as she paused and checked several rooms "We're gonna need you on standby! The guys are about to have another-"

She paused once she heard the sound of something over the dulled music. From one of the storage rooms she could hear a panicked voice and the sound of furniture being moved around.

"Krimp?" she asked as she approached the door and reached out to open it, only for it to swing open and nearly hit her. The disguised Uruk in question stood there with his usual smile, deflating only a bit when he noticed he'd almost injured her "Oh! Sorry there buddy, need something?"

Melanie shot him a frown "What were you doing back there?" she asked before leaning to the side "I was calling you for-"

She paused upon spotting an extremely uncomfortable looking Bebe sitting on a couch that was situated between several boxes. The Faunus continuously tried to make her posture natural, which in turn just made Melanie far more suspicious.

"Sorry, kinda busy here at the moment." Krimp giggled as his smile returned in full force "Need something from little 'ol me?"

"Yeah, the guys are getting on again so I wanted to..." she trailed off as her eyes went from the friendly Uruk to the Faunus and back several times "What exactly were you two doing back here?"

"Just helping a pal out," Krimp admitted cheerfully, much to the distress of said 'pal' "I tried to keep it discreet, but lucky you! Ya found us out!"

"Krimp!" Bebe said in a panicked manner

"But what were you doing?" Melanie emphasized, the Uruk's wording upsetting her more and more.

"Oh ya know, just some personal things that require a particularly _friendly_ touch!"

"Krimp, please!"

"Know what? I don't even wanna know!" Melanie said before stepping away with her hands raised "Just be ready to clean up when they're done."

"Will do!" Krimp waved to her as he watched the girl quickly make her way back to the dance floor.

With her out of sight, the Uruk closed the door once more.

"Why the hell did you word it like that!?" Bebe demanded "Do you even understand what you were implying?!"

"But you said that ya didn't want anyone hearing 'bout what we were up to?" Krimp tilted his head to the side as he walked past her

"And this was better!?" she yelled as the Uruk came back and knelt in front of her

"Sorry pal, I'll come up with something better next time!" Krimp assured her with a pat on the shoulder before motioning for her to lie down "Now how about you and me get back to it?"

The Faunus sighed as she complied "There you go with the wording again."

Seconds later the Uruk was sitting in a dented folding chair which occasionally squeaked under his weight, listening intently as Bebe spoke, "-and sometimes I ask myself: If mom and dad hadn't gotten caught, would they have been proud of where we ended up?"

"Yet ya never thought 'bout this until after our talk about Uthug?" Krimp asked as he crossed one leg over the other

"No!" Bebe insisted "My brother was always so sure that we were doing the right thing, was determined to follow Adam's guide. He kept insisting the White Fang was doing what was necessary, that there was no other way. And I knew deep in my heart that he was right, every time I had doubts I'd just think back to Elementary School."

"Oh yeah, ya brought up the folks from school last time we talked." Krimp tapped a finger to his lips "But I seem to recall that you specifically said that you didn't wish death upon your young tormentors back then."

"No, mine were nowhere as extreme as some from the stories I heard in the fang. It was all just kid bullshit, nobody ever tore up my stuff, assaulted me or the things that other Faunus had to deal with. It wasn't like how my brother was treated."

"And yet despite your bullies being a farcry from the utter criminals that harassed others, you still believed they would have to be purged just like them because their particular path of ridicule was based around your heritage?"

"I was naive back then, okay?" she tightened her fists a bit as she turned to glare at the Uruk "I didn't realize that the Kiddy type bullshit would just grow into the wholesale slaughter that we have now!"

"Wholesale?" Krimp thought for a moment before snapping his fingers "You mean the stuff about Beacon!"

"The mere fact that that slaughterhouse is allowed to stand as a testament of Faunus subjugation is nothing less than disgusting."

"Right right, you talked about how Uthug didn't really buy into it."

"He had no right to just dismiss me!" Bebe snapped as she sat up "He's never been to Beacon! He has no reason to-"

"I've been to Beacon, buddy." Krimp frowned in thought "Never saw no dungeons or any of that, but maybe I was just looking in the wrong spots!"

Bebe glared at him before glancing away for a moment and lying back down "Maybe you were."

"But you say you never had doubts until he mocked you for these beliefs? From the way you talk about him, I didn't really think you'd put much stock into his opinion on it."

"Well, I guess its just a by-product of guilt for leaving him behind. I've been going over the last few days we spent together over and over in my head, and lets just say that asshole's words aren't as easily dismiss-able when..."

Bebe raised an arm and covered her eyes "I know he's wrong, but when I think of how I left him behind, I just-... I don't feel as good when lambasting his horrid perspectives. This kind of thing never used to happen when I was with my brother."

"So why not find him then?" Krimp suggested

"You already said yourself, they're on a ship somewhere and god knows when-"

"Not Uthug, your brother!"

Bebe paused, raising her arm off her eyes as she shot up "But-! I mean, didn't you say they'd already been captured. Ironwood-!"

"Oh Jimmy and his pals probably pressed em for everything. But ya gotta remember that they's got captured a long time ago."

Bebe raised an eyebrow "Jimmy?"

"But you and I both know they don't got much to say about my pals. I've got me a theory that as long as they insist they was just caught up in Uruk business by accident, they'll have been put with the rest of ya pals who get caught. You lot visit friends in jail all the time right?"

The Faunus's eyes widened, she'd been convinced that her brother was unreachable. But Krimp's words were irrefutable. However, that hope dimmed a bit once she realized something.

"But what about this?" Bebe pointed to her scar "I still don't know if this is a tracker or not, even if I could get out of here, what's Bigsby gonna say if he finds me trying to contact any form of Vale authority?"

"Dunno," Krimp shrugged before standing and raising a finger "let's go ask him!"

Bebe stood up as the Uruk immediately turned and made for the door "Ask him what?" she quickly followed him out of the room "Krimp! What are you doing!?"

"We'll go ask Oggie if its okay for you to go see your brother!" he giggled

"Did I not just say how bad him finding out would be!?"

"I'm sure letting him know straight away would be better than trying to sneak past him. Besides, what if its a bomb in there instead of a tracker? Or a listening device? Or all of the above?"

"That makes it worst!"

"No no, listen here." Krimp paused and kneeled before her "If ya try going around his back, its probably gonna go bad, right? Well if Oggie's got something in that head o yours monitoring your position, or some way to get rid o' you if he gets tired of dealing with you, then all we need to do is tell him the truth! You's feeling bent outta shape and need to meet your jailed brother. Everyone around here doesn't really seem to take you as a serious threat, anyway!"

"Jeez, thanks Krimp. Really keeping the motivation going there. What reason would he have to risk it?"

"I just told ya, everyone's convinced you's a screw up! At that rate, he'll probably think you'd mess it up before you even have a chance to oust him!"

Bebe was about to argue, but found herself holding her tongue. She wanted to see her brother, wanted him to get rid of these doubts that had been building up ever since that coward looter had initially planted them. Borgu and Zog seemed convinced she was inept at everything, and Ogthrak had seemed to see her as an annoyance rather than a threat, but did that really justify this much optimism?

It would seem Krimp thought so, as the Uruk grabbed her arm and sped down the back halls of the studio before she could refute him "There's only one way to find out!"

"But isn't he in a meeting right now!?"

Krimp slid to a stop right in front of a set of double doors, Bebe slamming into him from momentum, "Huh, you's right about that." he murmured as she picked herself off the floor.

"Why did we have to track him down before-!"

Krimp's hand clamped over her mouth "Quiet they's in the middle of it." he whispered before pointing towards the double doors.

Bebe leaned over to one of the door's windows and realized that beyond was some kind of loading bay she never knew was part of the Studio. There were several large trucks backed into it with dozens of cardboard boxes everywhere, several of them were open revealing dozens of Rolo and Banz albums. She didn't even know they'd had physical copies. Ogthrak had seemed content with just being some online sensation, had allowed other musical stations to play their tracks. When did he upgrade to actually filling music stores?

Another thing she noticed was that there was nobody actually working, the boxes had been left there as if everyone had cleared out. Was it some kind of break time? Who was even working back here? The only other employees she'd seen were the Masqueraders, and those junkies were barely capable of going along with Banz's hi-jinks let alone proper manual labor like this. Everything didn't smell like booze and the Albums seemed too properly organized to be their doing.

In fact, the only people inside the bay were Ogthrak, some human with blue straps all over his casual wear, and some ominous robed figure standing somewhat behind the blue guy. The figure initially reminded her of the horrifying Shaman, but this thing's robes seemed altered in several ways. First of all it had straps similar to the blue guy's, but this one's made more sense as it seemed to keep its robes from moving too inconveniently. Secondly she could see that this thing's face was covered by a simple-looking leather mask that revealed nothing of the wearer.

"Oh man, he got one of the Scholars out here?" Krimp mumbled to himself as he spotted the robed one.

Bebe looked up at that, curiosity getting the better of her as she leaned closer to the door.

"How the hell am I supposed to ensure you won't fuck this up, Bigsby?" the blue human demanded whilst wiping some sweat from his brow "The b-boss is adamant about this going down during the tournament, but that don't mean he'll jump for anything!"

"Relax," Ogthrak stated as he massaged his beard before gesturing towards the robed figure "Ask your companion, I've done riskier things. With the White Fang gone my people basically control most of Vale's smuggling outfit. The Atlesians have done everything they could to counteract the Fang's external activities and lock this city down for the festival, but they are not particularly familiar with my methods."

"Too good to be true! Everything you're saying is too good to be true! The Scarves won't just blindly listen to anyone's lies! Especially those of some greedy businessman! We've had enough of-"

"Calm down." the robed figure snapped "I refuse to allow your incompetence to ruin this negotiation. Bigsby's provided aid to the Blue Scarves before, activities like this should be nothing for a conman like him."

The human grimaced at the Scholar's words before glaring at Bigsby, who simply shrugged before folding his arms.

Bebe's eyes widened, Ogthrak was doing business with Blue Scarves? Why? She'd only learned a bit about this particular gang of miscreants while she was in Vale, and all she could pick up on was that they're a bunch of depressed lunatics who think the only way to stop conflict on Remnant is to eradicate any warring faction they can. Hearing their rants and ramblings online, they seem to consider themselves extreme vigilantes who will seek to destroy both the Atlesian military, the White Fang, all the way down to any petty thug they can get their hands on. They were active as just an online community of people who had all been harmed in some way by the White Fang or Government parties, all whining and complaining about how horrible the world had become.

It was only after she had been forced to work at the studio that she'd learned that soon after the existence of Uruks was confirmed, the Blue Scarves seemed to rapidly descend into maddened desperation. They would leave horrified comments in just odd places, pleading for random people online to end the conflict as if they had the power to do so. Their presence online seemed to devolve further and further for no apparent reason until it became violent. Nobody knew why, but all of a sudden they were sending endless streams of death threats and manic messages to government officials and people who were alleged Fang members. They'd started taking credit for more and more criminal activities, so much so that a number of Kingdoms had started considering them a threat to the populace.

The idea that one of those psychos was not only standing in her place of employment, but actually talking business with her captor made her blood run cold. But even more than that, why would Ogthrak ever do business with them? Why would a disguised Uruk in his position throw in with any criminal organization, especially one as openly manic as the Blue Scarves? But as she watched him, Ogthrak continued regarding the man before him with an air of professionalism.

"Honestly, I could care less whether you trust me or not. All that matters at the end of the day is the profit. As long as the lien's good, I'll be good, and I'll promise you that."

"Fine! Fine damn it, you get us the guns and we'll give you all the money you'll ever want."

"I doubt you'd ever be able to match that." Ogthrak chuckled "If you're gonna throw about numbers like that you should probably demand more, at this rate I might as well be smuggling you lot in as well. I'm good for it."

"Don't overstep, asshole! We're more than capable of getting through Atlas. Just because we need you now doesn't mean we'll ever endorse pollution like you! You're one of the problems we fully plan on eradicating once those corrupted monsters and genocidal lunatics are out of the way!"

"A bit of irony with that wording there, eh?"

"But know this, once they've been wiped from the face of this earth, it'll be disgusting creatures like you who we shall purge next!"

"Yeah yeah, I'm a horrible man in every manner of the way. The way I see it, we've already agreed on terms, so this meeting is pretty much beneath me at this point."

The Scholar placed a hand on the human's shoulder before they could rebuke the disguised Uruk, "Negotiations are complete, I advise you meet up with the others while I finish up here. The Boss'll be pleased."

The gang member seemed like he wanted to say more, but one look from the Scholar made him grunt before turning to leave "Careful Tearjerker, rodents like this are silver-tongued." he said before walking out.

It wasn't long after he was gone that Ogthrak released a loud groan as his entire demeanor shifted "This is an embarrassment, a full-blooded embarrassment from every angle."

He pulled a flask from his jacket and immediately downed it "Dealing with the vagrant wastes and imbeciles is one thing, but to maintain a facade like this for thralls of all things."

"One never knows when they are under surveillance." the Scholar stated matter-of-factly before looking the disguised Uruk over "You've complied with your own performance for some time now, surely you've acclimated. I recall you having quite the distaste for music of any type, and yet even then you adhere to the Shaman's request. If you've withstood for this long, surely this is nothing."

Bebe blinked, had she heard that right? She knew Ogthrak was only putting up with this because of his boss, but she didn't think he actively hated music.

"I shall never accept such a blatant waste of time." Ogthrak's voice drew her attention back to the two inside "However, I suppose you can say I've recognized the bigger picture."

"Oh?" the Scholar tilted his head "The Stormbringer had mentioned you'd always had difficulties comprehending his particular brand of entertainment."

"Most times, but this is different!" the Warmonger tossed the flask away as he looked up to the ceiling "Without him having directed me to this scenario, I would've never realized it. I'm in a position wherein I'm capable of monopolizing something that would have never held value to me back in Mordor. Once I've amassed enough of it, the Leaders of this land won't be able to touch me even if my ploy is discovered. At that point, it won't matter, the time it would take for them to properly dismantle this setup would be far more than Vale's got left. This must be why the Shaman guided me here! I would've never seen such value in this venture without him!"

"Quite the conclusion you've come to," the Scholar folded his arms "perhaps when he arrives, I might learn more of this supposed monopoly you've formed."

Bebe backed away from the door at that, eyes growing wide as Krimp looked back at her with a raised brow and whispered "What's wrong pal?"

"H-he said the Shaman's coming." she continued backing away "We need to leave before he catches us!"

Krimp gave a sad smile at that before shaking his head "A little late for that, eh buddy?"

The blooming dread his words inspired in her lasted for only a second before she bumped into someone, and her fear plummeted straight into her stomach along with all other tangible emotion as it blossomed into the empty taste of horror.

Slowly, she turned back and looked up into the all encompassing hood of Pugrish Stormbringer.

He was nowhere near as large as Krimp or even Ogrthak, but at that moment Bebe felt as though he towered over her like an impassive monolith. Krimp's words describing the Uruk behind her came rushing to the forefront of her thoughts as she froze, unwilling to even risk moving. The hood shifted, and soon she could see it, a single eye comprised of several shades of piercing blue stared through the cloth of its robe down at her. The overwhelming darkness of the hood made that eye seem to glow, a glow which framed only a portent of the mask. What Krimp called the Mask of Memories, only a portent was visible in this light: a leathery mouth surrounded the single eye, stuck in an eternal scream as the iris moved within.

Bebe stood there, under the Shaman's gaze for what were quickly beginning to feel like centuries. Neither she or the Claimant made any movement, only causing the Faunus's heart rate to rise quicker and quicker as her frantic mind anticipated the dreadful retribution that awaited her.

But Krimp seemed incapable of even noticing her dread, as the glutton merely raised a hand and waved "Hiya there Pug! Been a while, ain't it?"

Like a sacred blessing, the massive Uruk's words seemed to drive away the oppressive atmosphere, if only for a second. It was more than long enough for the Shaman to grow tired of the silence. He turned to Krimp, his robes shifting back into place as Bebe quickly scrambled behind the Friendly Uruk.

"Krimp... enjoying your stay?"

"Oh yes!" the larger of the two quickly wrapped an arm around Bebe and pulled her close "Did you know that I never actually made friends with this one before we started working here together? She was even at the Tower!"

"What was that?" Ogthrak's voice from beyond the double doors interrupted the massive Uruk's speech "Oi! is that Krimp? What are you doing back there?"

Bebe was starting to panic, clinging harder to the Uruk as her situation seemed to quickly devolve. Not only had she been caught spying on the monster who had potentially placed an explosive in her head, but she just had to get caught by an even worst monster! And the only thing she could possibly hope to shield her from their wrath was yet another monster that seemed completely incapable of recognizing the tense atmosphere.

Her worries halted, however, when the Grand Shaman approached the door whilst raising a hand towards them. A single leather glove slipped out from under his robes, its fingertips had been removed in order to leave space for the claw-like nails which protruded from them. Pugrish gestured for them to follow, saying nothing as he opened the door and entered.

Bebe didn't even have a chance to second guess acquiescing to the Storm-Ruler's silent demand, as Krimp immediately followed with a jovial bounce to his step, dragging the unfortunate Faunus in with him.

Upon catching sight of the Stormbringer, both Ogthrak and the Scholar immediately dropped to one knee. The disguised Uruk had taken a second longer, as he had immediately noticed both Krimp and Bebe following closely behind, yet he dropped low in honor of his master despite the hesitation.

The Shaman looked over both of them for a moment, before slowly crouching down and taking a seat upon the floor. Once he had gotten comfortable, he gestured for the two of them to rise "Tell me... how goes it?"

Ogthrak wasted no time in rising to his feet "Master, do we really need the hybrid whelp and that... that _thing_ here?"

Pugrish looked up at him for several seconds before repeating himself "I said... how goes it?"

The Warmonger swallowed at that before shaking his head "Not much to report on my end, Pug-Bringer studios is a smash hit. Not many entering the entertainment scene around here, despite what Atlas wants everyone to think. Many apparently high-tailed during that breach that occurred before we even entered this realm, and with how active Bubol's lackeys were, not many were really feeling confident about sticking around. Sure, some are still up and kicking trying to motivate the people, but our competition is lacking in true rivalry. The people love us, nothing like some good tunes and laughing at a couple of idiots to make ya forget a bunch of bloodthirsty monsters are clawing at ya walls."

The Stormbringer slowly nodded at that before turning to the Scholar "And you... Naruk?"

"The Scarves have successfully made use of the vacancy provided by the White Fang," the Scholar said as he too stood and folded his arms behind his back "they plan to begin their 'crusade' sometime during the tournament. Their growing presence hasn't seemed to have reached Law Enforcement yet, but its only a matter of time. Tarks like these can't be expected to stay silent, they will begin to start trouble. Even with the Blade's influence, they're simply too manic. They've already begun suspecting surveillance, saying they feel watched despite our covert activities. This bout of suspicion has led them to act out, spray-painting their tags anywhere they can."

"Already?" Ogthrak turned to him with a raised brow "They were supposed to save that for during the Tournie, when everyone's good and properly distracted."

"They are far too impatient. With how quickly their fears of discovery are growing, their violent reactions will soon become far more apparent to the masses. Once that happens, Atlas will no doubt seek to save face by wiping them from the city as quickly as possible."

"Giving the contenders room to focus on their little plot." the Disguised Uruk sighed before returning his gaze to the Stormbringer "Master, if we let this continue then they risk exposing us to-"

"No... Dreamer has seen it... Our success in this manner is guaranteed."

Ogthrak actually went wide-eyed at that "He-he knows of our plans? Master, his continued breathing is a threat to us now, at any moment he could warn the Garrison and-"

"No... he's known for a good week at this point, yet he says nothing." The Grand Shaman looked up to them "He has yet to dream up a way to stop us. He knows that forcing us to begin soon will only lead him to an early death."

"A coward then." The Scholar Naruk pointed out "Leaving his soldiers in the dark even while others conspire against them, truly unfit for his position."

"Not cowardice... intelligence. He seeks a method that may ensure the survival of his underlings... however faint it may be."

"So its true then? His visions have become more accurate?" Ogthrak asked

"Somewhat... he claimed his semblance made them far easier to interpret... yet I know not if he knew of our ploy at that time... It could be something else."

Bebe was absolutely stunned. How could they just...leave her here? Was she truly so little of a threat that they could just go ahead and converse about their plans openly like this with little fear? Ogthrak had seemed to be against her presence, but had backed down as soon as the Shaman diverted the question.

She had been pressed to Krimp throughout their conversation, hoping beyond hope that she was wrong in her assumption that they fully planned on killing her afterwards. Her eyes went down to the Shaman's seated form, he had not risen like his underlings had.

Everything about the Shaman confused her, beyond the fact that he seemed unopposed to allowing her to bear witness to something such as this. When she had first seen him, she'd been far too busy freaking out over the ghastly visage of his mask to really focus on him. But as she replayed the scene over and over in her head in the last few days she began realizing something. The Storm Ruler had been right there, Tuka had Uthug pinned and the Faunus had pressed herself to a wall to get away from him, yet through all that he had still been sniffing the air for his stolen journal. He seemed so disconnected with events around him, and in a way that made him seem far more odd to her.

Krimp had explained that this was apparently an Uruk who had been formed with ability beyond the scope of the armies drawn from their pits, that Uruks like him often become forces to be reckoned with. And yet despite that here he was remaining seated on the ground before his own soldiers. With how his robes were designed to cover every inch of him, he didn't look like anything really. He didn't look like the horrifying monster all the tales about him would have her believe he was, he didn't look anything like a nation-conquering one Uruk Army. In fact, Naruk and Ogthrak in their extremely distinct clothing and open mannerisms seemed far more eye-catching than this guy was. It almost seemed like he was actively trying to draw as little attention to himself as possible.

It was just... so odd to her.

"You actually managed to pull one out?!" Ogthrak stepped forward, shock evident even through his beard

"Why so surprised?" The Scholar asked before gesturing towards the Grand Shaman "The Master's capable of drawing strength from anything! Even a Flawed pool."

"Perhaps... the Newborn still has many unfortunate oddities... but I am curious to how he shall react to them." the Stormbringer shook his head "Either way... with how Ratlug puts it, we should be able to put together a functioning pit long before before the Tournament ends. If the good Doctor's findings are anything... it may be even earlier than that."

"Right on time then," Ogthrak muttered "I suppose that means we've gone over everything."

"How long will you be staying, Master?" Naruk questioned

"Debatable... I plan on going for a walk once my servant here fulfills my request." he looked at Ogthrak, who immediately nodded.

"Of course, I actually left it wrapped up over here, one moment." he said before rushing over to a corner of the loading bay.

"If that is so, I must return to my duties." Naruk turned as well "Despite their actions, the Scarves in Vale still require all the oversight we may offer."

As he took his leave, Bebe realized their little meeting was rapidly closing. She had come here on Krimp's suggestion to ask Ogthrak for leeway to visit her brother, but after watching them hash out what could only be terrible plans for Vale, she barely had the will to stand. She needed to get out of here, but if she just turned and ran wouldn't that induce some kind of violent reaction?!

But she had Krimp! Dumb as he was, there's no way he'd let them just tear her apart right?"

But as she turned to speak to the Uruk she'd been clinging to, she realized that he'd been keeping extraordinarily still. He had become almost statuesque throughout their entire conversation. Looking up at him, her words died once she noticed just how eerily still he was. Face frozen in his casual smile, eyes staring at the ground. Krimp's size had always made him somewhat threatening to her, despite how much he seemed willing to help, but to see him in this state made her hesitate to call for him.

It was actually off-putting to keep looking at his frozen expression, and she quickly looked elsewhere for levity. Only for her gaze to lock with that of the Shaman's. Apparently, he'd gotten bored of waiting for Ogthrak to return after seeing the Scholar off.

And for the second time that day Bebe found herself stuck in a staring contest with the Stormbringer himself. It was two times too many.

Thankfully, the silence was broken by Ogthrak who approached with something long wrapped up in cloth "Now I would never question your entertainment, Master, even in regards to something like this. And it wasn't hard to obtain given my revenue, but I must once more ask if you're sure this is the best fit?"

He presented the object to the Shaman, who immediately took hold of it and began unwrapping it with haste.

Given the context of their conversation, Bebe was prepared for it to be some kind of rare weapon or resource or something which would only be used for horrific means in the hands of the Storm Ruler. But to her utter dismay, once the cloth fell to the floor the item clutched in the grip of the Shaman was a Pogo stick.

"I got the most well-recommended model I could find." Ogthrak folded his arms and raised an eyebrow as he watched the Shaman hold up the Pogo stick and examine it in the Bay's light "Light, solid, and sure to withstand most natural elements. But I have to know why this is what you ended up picking? We have access to weapons, industrial materials, I would even expect the signs on the road before something like this."

"Still no imagination?" Pugrish turned to him as he raised the stick by its base and tapped a handle against his underling's shoulder "Embarrassing... fully adapting to something like this... shall be entertaining... Especially once the good Doctor has his way with it..."

Ogthrak still looked upon the Pogo Stick with confusion "Then-"

"I take my leave of you now." Pugrish said as he stood and turned towards the exit, leaning the Pogo Stick along his shoulder as he made for the door.

Bebe locked up again as he passed by, breathing a sigh of relief only when she heard the door open and shut.

That relief dissipated once she looked up to see Ogthrak's expression shifting to an annoyed glare as he centered his gaze on her.

"So, any reason you just had to spy on us?"

And suddenly the Faunus was sorely missing the plethora of distractions that had formerly held Ogthrak's attention.

"I... Wha-?"

"Sure, I could just assume that the Master ran into you and this monster by coincidence on the way here and merely supposed that dragging you both here would help me think 'outside the box' as he puts it. However, knowing the misfortune that seems to hang over you like a bad smell you tried getting away with something that would piss me off, and ended up getting caught by him in the process."

Bebe swallowed nervously, was she truly that easy to predict purely by her bad track record?!

"Wasn't nothing bad, Oggie!" Krimp finally spoke up, shocking the Faunus due to how quiet he'd been "She just wants ya blessing to go visit her big bro in jail!"

"Krimp!" Bebe shouted, if the timing was bad before, saying this right after being caught listening in on plans was worst.

"She... what?" Ogthrak grew a confused expression

"Yeah, she was all worried because she thought you'd feel threatened by a captive heading off to local law enforcement. And since she don't know if the thing in her head blows up or not I suggested we just ask!"

"What?!"

"Krimp don't-!" Bebe pushed away from the smiling glutton and immediately clasped her hands together before Ogthrak "Please! I know this sounds bad, but I promise that wasn't how that went! I miss him, yes, but I would never insult your intelligence by asking something so ridiculous!"

The Disguised Uruk's glare only deepened.

"I mean, why would I ever get s-so ludicrous an idea like... I mean! You were right in thinking-No, wait... wait I mean the Shaman, your Boss! He really um..."

"You okay there buddy?" Krimp asked as he watched her desperately try to salvage the situation.

"I mean, especially after what we just saw, there's no way you'd... Please believe that this was not my idea! I just really- oh god- It wasn't supposed to-!"

Ogthrak's expression darkened as he listened to the babbling Faunus try to formulate a decent statement, and as she continued failing at this he merely raised one hand before lashing forward and slapping her to the ground.

The single second of merciful silence he'd been given after she fell was cut off far too shortly for his liking once she began trying to pick herself up.

"Buddy, ya didn't have to do it that hard." Krimp tutted in distaste before raising a finger "With how scared she is of you, a measly grunt would've been more than enough."

"Wouldn't be enough for me." Ogthrak growled as he approached her

Bebe's vision had gone dark from the impact, which felt more like he'd slammed a bat into the side of her head. Her vision had gone dark momentarily, but when it cleared and she saw the disguised Uruk stomping towards her she immediately rolled on her back and tried scrambling back "Wait! I-!"

Ogthrak dropped down and pinned her under one of his knees, planting it firmly on her chest with enough of his weight behind it to immediately make it hard for her to breath. But just from the way he was positioned she knew he'd have no issue crushing the life out of her if he really tried. Despite trying to focus as much of her aura on where he pinned her, she wasn't confident in the slightest of her ability to survive should he start really pushing down.

Struggling not to panic again, Bebe tried forcing out some kind of plea, but the Uruk was having none of it.

"Quiet," he hissed as he put more pressure on her "I work my arse off all day keeping this farce going on, dealing with idiots of every species who seem to be actively trying to ruin it for all of us. I also do mountains of tark paperwork and have to make plans for a bunch of lunatics who for all I know could get themselves caught by Atlas at any bloody time. My time is more precious than the air I'm about to squeeze right out of ya fuckin' lungs, so the last thing I want to waste it on is your shoddy babbling. So you ain't talking unless I say so, got it?"

She nodded hastily.

"Now Krimp over here says you's planning on visiting family in the slammer, and I can see why you'd think twice about it. But here's the kicker, I'm not what you should be worried about."

At that, Bebe's panicked breathing stilled for a moment as she grew a confused look.

"Obviously an idiot like yourself would have trouble thinking this far ahead, but the fact that I basically kept you from rushing into your next bout of trouble brings a small bit of entertainment to the constant workings of annoyance my schedule has become. Because you're about to wander into an establishment run by paranoid government officials, who've been driven to keep tabs on as much as they can by the gang you yourself are a part of."

He watched as her eyes widened, and the deep frown he sported almost seemed to morph into a grin for a moment before he raised a hand "I can see it now 'White Fang informant caught passing info between incarcerated cohorts' and then I'll have the damn authorities at my door. But unlike your typical idiot, I actually know enough of my stuff to have you listed under the alias you've got. That's right, I run background checks on all my employees, even the enforced labor. Just so you know, 'Sally Harbor'? Ain't the best choice of names for a deer of all things. But it was convincing enough for you to sneak your way into my staff with the sole purpose of meeting ya fellow brothers in prison. Sounds mighty open and shut now don't it?"

Bebe stopped struggling as she thought for a moment, after several seconds of silence Ogthrak rolled his eyes and leaned closer "Speak."

"The twins! You told them my real name, they-"

"Are also criminals desperate for money after their last gig went under, and could just as easily have been paid off to assist in your infiltration of my carefree little studio."

"You're an Uruk, if we tell-"

"You want to convince an entire government that a music studio which plays music loved by the masses is secretly being run by the same bloodthirsty monsters from another realm who raid villages and enslave whoever they don't eat? And nobody but you seems to have noticed?"

She couldn't say anything, it was literally the most implausibly stupid story she could say. She'd never believe anyone if they came to her with that, it just sounded like the most crackpot thing.

"Stories like that need evidence, hard evidence. Evidence that needs to be collected meticulously and carefully in order to hold weight in court. Now I ain't gonna fault you for strolling to a prison, if someone as accident prone as yourself manages to get in and out without getting yourself locked up I'll even be a tad impressed, but I'm only gonna give you one warning: If I catch you snooping around my possessions or setting up equipment or doing anything that might lead me to believe you're trying to get that evidence you so sorely lack..."

He leaned down even more and hissed "... I'm gonna break all your limbs and toss you into the basement to starve to death."

"We have a basement?" Krimp asked with a look of confusion

Ogthrak rolled his eyes and finally got off of the Faunus, allowing her to breath evenly as he stepped away.

"Now the Master has a strict, unending policy in terms of fairness. If something is earned, fought for and attained through actual effort, then it is deserved. Not how I look at things really, but I'm gonna toss you a bone on this one." he made his way past Krimp to the double doors "If you can properly visit your kin without being caught and jailed by Atlas, then congratulations."

He stopped at the door and glared back at her "But you gotta _earn_ it."

* * *

Travelling with Bubol was quickly becoming a practice in patience for Uthug.

While it was true that the Marksman's knowledge of the Depths allowed them to pretty much avoid the Broken all together, trying to get information out of him was more than enough of a struggle to overshadow that. Uthug had spent the last few hours or so trying to fill in the blanks that Galkar had left him, but Bubol seemed far too prone to losing focus and prattling on about pointless shrahk.

Through some hoop-jumping and plenty of help from Gundza, Uthug managed to confirm or deny most of what Galkar had said. In fact, Galkar was out of date on far more than the Looter would've liked. Those groups of Uruks who had made it down here? Almost all of them had been confirmed to be dead by Bubol, who had found their mangled bodies at the bottom of the large space they had met at. Most of their possessions had been stripped and a large amount of their flesh had been gnawed off, but Bubol had been able to identify most by taste. There was no way that Uthug would've found any helpful items on them.

And caches of resources? The last idiot globs who got caught coming down here would apparently lead the Broken right to them, only making them more and more well equipped at defending their territory. Most of those traps had been set up using tools stolen from those very caches.

So in essence, every single time some wannabee survivalist gets caught it makes the Broken more difficult for everyone else. Both Uthug and Gundza had been utterly confused as to why the archer hadn't forbade entry the first few times this happened, but when the Looter asked Bubol merely pointed out that he enjoyed watching groups of unsuspecting fighters try surviving against these harsh conditions.

Both Gundza and Uthug had to give internal groans at yet another clear case of Bubol's desire for entertainment superseding all else.

But now they'd come to something that had been confusing both of them since they'd first heard about it: the Tark Galkar said had been occasionally sighted down here.

"Ya mean Speedy?" Bubol asked as he crouched low and crawled into a service hatch

"Who?" Uthug raised an eyebrow as he followed behind

"Now I get how this kinda turned into a legend of some sort," Bubol murmured as he crawled forth "most of the guys who knew about how that started are either with Felgrat or were killed by his Caterers when we started going at it. But ya know how those Atlas folk tested on a bunch of the older inmates? Well one of those tests involved this really wacky tark. Think they was trying to find some way to get us to not wanna kill them, at least that's how the guys who went through it feel it was designed."

 _ **So they did try connecting with us, a fool's errand. Uruks only ally with non-uruks to help them easily kill other opponents. Even then there's never a guarantee that betrayal won't occur.**_

"But from how they described him, this Tark wasn't right in the head. They said the only reason they didn't wanna kill him after long was because he was far more confusin' than aggravating. He kept pleading for them to get him to a car, said he just wanted to drive again. He would jitter and twitch and sometimes rush about going 'Speed, speed! More speed!'"

"So that's why you call him Speedy." Uthug grumbled as he watched Bubol slip out of the tunnel and moved quickly to follow "Fine, so they think the only way to gain some kind of bond with us murderous creatures is by having us interact with a lunatic of their own species. It sounds desperate, but fine. Now how the hell did he end up down here?"

"Now that's the thing," Bubol hummed as he leaned against a wall "Speedy broke free not too long before me and my pals from the tournie showed up. Even the Uruks from back when didn't know exactly how it happened. Them Atlas droids tried sneaking in like they always had, but Kruk had had enough of his boys being taken away from him. He managed to figure out where they'd be coming in and tried ambushing them, but before they could start killing each other Speedy just ran right in. Don't even know how he got loose, the guys who were forced to interact with him said that the other tarks kept him restrained. But somehow he must've slipped out around that time."

The diseased archer pushed away from the wall and stretched "Now he didn't get caught up in the battle, but the distraction of seeing him race by was enough for those Atlas robots to pull back. Kruk and his guys tried chasing Speedy to make up for it, but he quickly slipped down here, and even someone like Kruk wasn't bout to risk his neck in Broken territory. Don't really think they've got a means to keep tabs around here since everything's busted, so not even the Tarks have been trying to get him back. Guess they can't really plan out any sneaky sneaks when they can't get a good lay o the land."

"So this random human has just been scrounging down here all this time and you haven't once tried catching him?!" Uthug asked

"I've been down here enough times to see him lots, but only from afar. The guy really does act quite like the Broken, his key focus seems to be on going fast as can be. Really likes running he does. Main reason the Broken ain't catch him yet is because the guy goes excessively fast for a softskin."

 _ **This is it, we've found ourselves a proper advantage.**_

 _In what?_

 _ **If this tark truly is still alive down here, catching him has to be priority one.**_

 _I've dealt with enough idiots already, now you want me going looking for more?_

 _ **Lunacy or not this Speedy character has seen parts of the Arceus we currently don't have access to. Gaining knowledge of the ship's inner workings is key in any escape. Even if he caught even a cursory glance at times, more information at this stage is priceless. If I can get inside his head, who knows what kind of information I could gain access to.**_

Uthug sighed before narrowing his eyes at Bubol "Oi, where've you been leading me this whole time?"

"Got me a little hidey hole," Bubol nodded down an adjacent hall "thought we could take a rest, start getting to really know each other and-"

"Change of plans, we're going after the tark. He might have info we can use."

Bubol paused and raised an eyebrow before turning and continuing on the down the original hall "Look at you, little go-getter just can't wait to get out of our little fun house. I like it, there's drive here!"

 _ **Good.**_

 _You know I'm not letting you get back inside me if you really are planning on hopping in this guy._

 _ **We shall see, if what Bubol says is true and our jailers can't monitor us down here, then I might not need to continue hiding in you. Although it further supports my theory, this ship has far too many flaws to be considered a long-term solution.**_

 _Yes yes and we have to be sure our first attempt succeeds or they drown us all. We've been over this before._

Bubol led them through a different series of maintenance tunnels and passages, occasionally pausing to work around some traps or Broken Uruks sniffing about. The depths truly seemed to spread under most of the holding area of the Arceus, but for all his misleading statements Galkar was right about something. There was far too much area for the amount of Broken they saw.

He thought back to Felgrat's Caterers or even Bubol's Boys, inmates were all over the place. The Broken were down here with more than both their territory combined and they'd only seen that one small hunting party and several others along the way. There was Knocker too, but Uthug wasn't even convinced that he fully counted as one of the Broken. He'd been crazy when he was dropped off with Uthug, he didn't need torment by tarks to get how he was. Seems crazies just enjoy the same areas?

Well, Bubol seemed to enjoy it here so maybe there was more weight to that idea than he thought.

But as he traveled, he realized Gundza wasn't speaking as much as he often did.

 _Something on ya mind?_

 _ **Simply preparing myself for the likely event that I have to transfer hosts, though I've become far more adept than when I discovered my ability, I've found some prep work does wonders for the process.**_

 _Transferring into a tark though? Hate to figure out what that feels like._

 _ **Mayhaps one day you'll indeed find out, as long as we continue working together.**_

When Uthug gave a confused look at that, he could hear the Shadow chuckling.

 _ **Your semblance, I know you have the ability to copy the semblances of others, even if for just a short time. Think about it, once I'm out then perhaps you can take my semblance for a spin.**_

 _Sounds like its given you plenty of trouble._

 _ **At first, but I've come a long way from inhabiting crazed Uruks and junkie tarks.**_

 _And yet now your about to hop into a crazed tark, glad to see you're expanding your area of expertise._

"So uh, what's the plan here?" Bubol asked

The spark of rage that surged into Uthug at that moment immediately made him glare holes into the back of the Archer's head.

"About the tark I mean, how exactly are we supposed to catch him when the Broken can't? If he starts running I guarantee you he's gonna outpace us."

"No plan, I see him, I'm tackling the bastard to the ground."

The Looter could practically feel Gundza shaking his head in disappointment.

"Grappler eh, I like my boys on the ground too! It makes them far more-..." Bubol paused as his ears caught something up ahead at what looked like an intersection of hallways. A single door was hanging open on one of the walls across from them. Uthug paused as well, and they both watched as the door slowly began opening.

Bubol gestured and the two crouched behind pieces of torn up architecture as the door slowly swung open. The door seemed damaged, as it shifted a bit on its hinges as a filthy hand slowly pushed it open.

Uthug glanced to Bubol, whose eyes widened at the sight of the hand before a grin spread on his face.

The Looter looked again as a head of long black hair came into view, followed by a filthy looking tark dragging a bag behind him on the floor.

There he was, a rumor made flesh just slinking around down here. Uthug couldn't believe it, not that he was here but that they'd located him so quickly. No, not with his luck. There had to be a real catch. They had the drop on him, but was he really as fast as Bubol claimed?

Uthug wasn't about to let his bad luck get in the way, and moved to lunge forward when Gundza's voice halted him.

 _ **At least wait until he's turned around, at this angle he has an easy route for escape.**_

Uthug gave a low growl as he watched the tark slowly close the door behind him, a piece of metal fell from his bag. Speedy released several curses as he bent low to pick it up, revealing a wild beard matching an even wilder pair of frantic eyes. Uthug didn't know what he expected a manic tark to look like in this realm, but he certainly fit the bill. What he wasn't expecting was Gundza's reaction to the Tark's appearance.

 _ **Mitch?!**_

Uthug had to place a hand to his head at the sudden headache Gundza's outburst caused him.

 _What? What's wrong?_

 _ **That's him, the first Tark I ever slipped into in this realm, what the shrahk is he doing here?!**_

Uthug looked up at 'Speedy' or Mitch or whatever the hell he was supposed to be called, wouldn't this make things go even easier? If Gundza had experience controlling him before then all they had to do was grab him, but that still didn't make him any less antsy. There's no way things could go this well, something was bound to-

And then, as if fate itself had descended upon them, three of the Broken spilled in from the side halls between them and the Tark.

"No running, little Boy!" the Largest of them shouted, his particular phrasing indicating it was indeed the boy-crazed pack leader who had chased him earlier.

To his surprise, Mitch actually hissed at them as he scampered back "No slowing! Never slowing again! Just speed bumps, gonna pass you!"

 _The shrahk did you do to him? He's speaking just like these nutty globs!_

 _ **I-I never checked afterwards I... he was already a tad unstable when I took him over but this-**_

Two more Broken appeared on the other side of Mitch, effectively cutting him off.

Yeah, this was about what Uthug expected. Glancing over, he could see that Bubol was far too entertained by the spectacle before him to depend on for interference.

Mitch tied the bag to his wrist and crouched low as he glanced frantically between the two encroaching groups of Broken Uruks, and turned on the smaller of the groups.

"Rat ain't got nowhere to go!" one of the two mumbled "Meaty rat got no wheels to run for, gonna give us good meat eating yes he will!"

But then Speedy dropped low before darting right at the two, at speeds that Uthug did not expect for one of such a lanky frame. The Broken Uruks raised their makeshift weapons to intervene, but he seemed to change his course at the last second and slipped right past them before disappearing down the hall.

"Rat!?" one shouted after him before getting shoved aside by the pack leader.

"Bad boy get punishment later," he shouted before gesturing forward "little boy get punishment now!"

And so off they ran after the fleeing human.

Uthug and Bubol slipped out of their hiding spots once they were sure no others were coming.

"Trust me about his speed now?" the Archer snickered before growing a thoughtful expression "Though to be fair, that's the closest I've seen those blokes get to catching him. Guess they was narrowing down his movements like me, how exciting!"

 _ **Uthug, listen to me. We cannot allow those mongrels to kill Mitch. It might concern you even more now. Mitch did not act like some kind of maddened animal while I was using him, obsessed with racing sure but this is something new. I'm unsure if this could be some long term result of my possession.**_

 _You saying I'm gonna go crazed like him?_

 _ **Just that its a possibility we should look into now before it becomes a problem later. The earlier reasons still apply but I know just how self-centered you can be, you should want this matter settled.**_

The Looter could not argue that, no matter how much he wished to.

"Come on, we gotta find him before they do." he sighed before glancing at Bubol "And don't think I'm letting you keep being a spectator."

"Now whatever gave you an absurd idea such as that, my angry Black-Clothed friend?" Bubol leaned forward only for Uthug to start walking

"You're one of the best shots in Mordor, like hell I'm not gonna use that."

* * *

"She's gotta be able to use them. I mean, if anyone could it would be her, right?"

Emerald stared up at the broken moon for what felt like hours, her thoughts had been focused on one single thing. Thankfully the grounds were sparse, with most staff and students turning in for the night. Nobody was there to see her, so she let her mind wander over this subject over and over, seeking an answer that seemed impossible for her to grasp.

"There you are."

Emerald winced as a familiar, annoying voice reached her ears, and her contemplation immediately turned to anger as she glanced back to see Mercury approaching with the same cocky grin he seemed to have as a default.

"What do you want, Merc?" she asked

"Boss doesn't like it when she can't find her Yes Girl, and I don't like it when I have to find you for her." he said with a stretch

Emerald merely rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the moon.

"Shoulda been there, yet another report of the White Fang having trouble with Uruks and the boss getting angry that they kept directing their problems to her." he chuckled "Seriously, Neo and I have started betting on how long it takes till the next call comes in."

"You'd think those things would calm down after the beatdown Ironwood put 'em through." The red-eyed youth sighed

"Hey, they're just doing what any hunted criminals do when their bosses get caught: Trying to hide in the nooks and crannies the authorities would look over." he shook his head "Too bad for them that all those places already have a bunch of angry Faunus there."

Emerald didn't reply immediately, and Mercury raised an eyebrow before walking to her side and leaning to get a better look at her "So, you coming back? I don't really want to find out how things will go down if I head back without you."

"They're still a problem."

"Hm?"

"I just can't believe those freaks are still a problem for us... do you have any idea how many have died since they got here?" she turned to Mercury "Just losing the train crew was enough to send Adam's punks into a near panic, but these guys are dropping off like flies and just continue to make problems."

"From how it seems, they're used to losing plenty of guys in battle, guess they've grown accustomed to it." he grinned "Maybe that'll change when there's only a few hundred of 'em left. As long as they don't have those pit things-"

He noticed Emerald's expression tighten at that, "And that's another thing," she stated before turning back to the moon and growing an uneasy look "despite only seeing these things in videos or hearing about them through the Fang's reports, haven't you noticed how familiar these guys are?"

He rolled his eyes "I'm sure tons of evil masterminds have had the idea of growing their armies out of sludge or plants or dirt or something. I'm sure I've seen that in a cartoon somewhere even before I knew about our... Ahem... _'secret mastermind'_. It really is the most cost effective method of getting labor these days."

"Merc, I'm serious!"

"So am I," he pointed out "if I ever wanted to take over the world the first thing I'd do is find a way to turn sewage into armies."

"That should not sound as cool as it does!" a new voice chimed in

Immediately Emerald froze while Mercury glanced over to an approaching figure. The Green-haired girl nearly choked when she recognized the red cape "Ruby!?"

"Yep!" the younger girl waved with a smile before folding her arms behind her back and leaning towards them "So what's this about sewer armies? They sound so disgusting, but if they were in a comic I probably wouldn't be able to resist picking it up!"

Mercury noticed Emerald's small sigh of relief and smirked before glancing back to Ruby "Well wish me luck, soon as I start raking in Huntsman payments I plan on making that a series."

After steadying her breath, Emerald managed to shake her head at Mercury's quick thinking and matched Ruby's smile with one of her own "What are you doing out here this late?"

"Well I just got back from a little trip and figured I'd take the scenic route. I've kinda been all over the place these last few weeks." she turned to look up at the school building with a whistle "Seems so much homelier now."

"Right, I still can't believe the messes you managed to get yourself into in such a short time." the Green haired girl commented "So many have had run-ins with the Uruks, but you guys took the fight right to their leaders."

"Yeah, and got thrashed as a result." the little reaper murmured "Almost makes me glad we don't have the tournament to worry about."

"If anyone deserves a rest, its you guys."

Ruby smiled at that, until she grew a curious expression "By the way, what are you two doing out here so late."

Emerald gave a little laugh "Well ya see-"

But unfortunately for her, Mercury spoke up "Ever heard of a Midnight Rendezvous?"

She immediately began to retaliate "What exactly are you-!?"

"Oh" Ruby put a finger to her chin in thought "Sorry for interrupting then."

"Wait, don't just take that at face value!" but despite her plea, Ruby was already making her way by them

"It's okay, really! I just didn't realize-... Good luck with the tournament!" she said quickly before hurrying off

Emerald's expression hardened into a stiff frown once Ruby was out of sight, and she became painfully aware of the held-back snickers coming from beside her, "Can you say anything that doesn't piss me off?"

"Of course, but it would probably be a bunch of lies."

* * *

It took Mitch about twenty minutes to shake off the Broken.

Not without trying, mind you. For a raving madman he was surprisingly quiet given all the trash, water and rubble he had to move around. It was just that the gang of Broken hunting him were amazingly persistent. In spite of the smell of metallic water everywhere, the one at the head of the pack managed to keep sniffing him out. Perhaps if they were less focused on catching the human, they would've taken note of the two Uruks trailing behind them.

For how much Bubol seemed to love running his mouth, Uthug was surprised at just how quiet the archer can be. Perhaps due to his thin frame, Bubol could slink about without a single sound. Uthug on the other hand had to be extremely deliberate with his footing. There was just some random junk lying about to look out for. Even if the broken were distracted now, he knew that the second he merely grazed something on the ground they would be onto him.

And so, after twenty long minutes of having to keep up with this stealth garbage, Mitch finally managed to lose the Broken. Seems the Pack Leader's luck couldn't hold up, and eventually he led his pack down the wrong path. Once the sound of their footsteps disappeared, Mitch started moving at a greater pace.

Uthug and Bubol followed him further through the sopping, filthy underbelly of the Arceus until they spotted him slip through a busted set of double doors.

"Really? He's been holing up here?" Bubol tapped his chin in thought as the duo stopped in front of the doorway.

"What about it?

"That big bastard and his pals back there took down another group of Sroken who was bunking down here not too long ago, seems our friend's been hiding here in their stead."

Uthug raised an eyebrow, it didn't really seem important to know that. This wasn't a tour, they knew where he was, so why not just grab him instead of reminiscing about dead lunatics?

 _ **Failing to see the details again I see? Despite seeming like an unstable madman, our speed-crazed friend chose this place to hide. If the Broken who originally took residence died in some kind of territorial dispute, then this place would fly under most noses. Its a rather tactical choice of seclusion, meaning-**_

"Don't care," Uthug shook his head before marching in "let's just get this tark already."

"Straight to the climax eh?" Bubol cooed before following "I like it!"

It became apparent real fast that this room was large, with numerous massive shelves which reached to the ceiling high above. The place was mainly lit up by emergency lights similar to the few which were scattered around the depths, but it was actually brighter than most other areas. This was in large part due to a single bright light bulb hanging down from the center of the ceiling. It was hanging very precariously from its mount, Uthug was positive he'd be able to grab it should he manage to scale one of these large shelves.

The shelves were another thing, they took up most of the space yet Uthug for the life of him couldn't figure out why they were here. The place looked like some kind of storage area, but why would it be all the way down here? The paths in between the shelves started feeling maze-like the deeper in they got, dead ends, various turns and the occasional pile of junk blocking the way was starting to grate on him. They began cutting through shelves if there was enough space between them, which alleviated some of the strain of their search.

 _ **I can only assume they were planning on using this place to keep large parts needed for quick repairs.**_

 _What?_

 _ **Just off the top of my head, the sheer size of these shelves suggest that whatever was planned to be on them would have to be rather big. With its proximity maybe this was where they'd keep spare pieces for the machines down here. I can't think of any other reason they'd keep a warehouse like this around.**_

Uthug couldn't agree, even if they were intended to have large parts stored here the shelves were mostly taken up by rubble and broken stuff. It was like the debris littered all over the Arceus was being stockpiled here.

 _ **We already know this place has been inhabited before, maybe its former owners were keen on collecting anything they assumed they could use. Perhaps Mitch figured he could use some of their stuff.**_

 _Like maybe he found some other way off this blasted ship?_

 _ **I wouldn't bet on it, the only thing I can remember him thinking about when he was my puppet was driving as fast as physically possible no matter the vehicle.**_

Before Uthug could continue questioning, the sound of something falling over made him turn to see something incredibly quick speeding out of sight.

"Think that's our boy?" Bubol leaned over his shoulder and questioned "Seemed a bit too fast, even for him."

Uthug groaned as he turned to catch up to whatever it was. Knowing his luck, the tark probably had some beastly death machine he was riding around in just waiting for him.

 _ **Unlikely, the space between these shelves is rather generous I'll admit, but even a small car would have trouble maneuvering in here. Besides, think rationally, where would he even get it?**_

Despite the shadow's reassurance, the sound of that thing speeding by on the other side of the shelf beside him sounded distinctly like wheels. So much so that he could even feel Gundza hesitate to comment.

 _ **Perhaps he found a cart to help move heavier items? But that doesn't really explain how its moving so fast... unless-**_

A hand on Uthug's shoulder prompted him to glance back to Bubol, who was looking directly behind them at something at the far end of the shelves.

Uthug turned around to get a better look at it, only for his eyes to widen and his teeth to clench.

Turns out, they were both partially right.

There was Mitch seated in what could only be described as a heavy lifting cart with a seat and pedals attached to it. Having built some kind of rudimentary metal cage around his seat and with a bunch of jagged objects strapped all over it, the pride in Mitch's eyes was palpable.

"So that's what you've been scavving for," Bubol called out as he looked the odd looking contraption over with a smile "Mighty jealous of that seat there, think its willing to share?"

"Tried to stop me, to slow me down." Mitch took one hand off the handmade wheel that seemed wedged down into the cart and patted his chest "But a true racer always returns to the road!"

Uthug's shoulders relaxed, he'd honestly been expecting worst given his luck, but this seemed like a trivial thing for both him and Bubol. Of course, Gundza didn't seem to think so, and began shouting as Mitch tightened his grip on the wheel.

 _ **Move damn it! His semblance-!**_

And then the ridiculous cart made of garbage sped towards them as if it had an industrial engine powering it.

Uthug just barely caught a glimpse of Bubol scaling the nearest shelf before Mitch's cart barreled into him and sent the Looter rolling over the mesh cockpit and slamming into the floor as the Speedster drove off.

He had had just enough time to raise his aura in order to negate the devastating blow, but he already felt extremely exhausted from that alone. Despite that, Uthug forced himself to his knees as Gundza muttered.

 _ **I knew it made him go faster in vehicles not meant for high speeds, but is it really that fluid?**_

"The shrahk just happened?!" Uthug barked as he stumbled to his feet

 _ **Mitch's semblance, I hadn't considered it a threat in these circumstances, but I suppose I overestimated its limits. Does this mean that it could theoretically be used for anything as long as he can ride it?**_

"He's gonna be riding something when I get my claws into him!" Uthug barked

"Oh my," came a voice from above "how scandalous!"

Glancing up, Uthug found Bubol sitting atop the nearest shelf with a cheeky grin "What will the boys say if they find out about this?"

"Do something already you useless-!"

But the sounds of wheels quickly approaching forced the Looter to instead turn and run as Mitch's makeshift cart swerved from behind another shelf and darted towards him.

* * *

"Damn, could you just watch where you're going?!" Sky mumbled as he brushed his chest, trying to ignore the snickering from Dove beside him.

In front of him, Ruby recovered from their collision "Well you guys just rushed out from behind the corner!"

The boy glanced to his sides before gesturing with his arms "And?" before shaking his head and waving her off "Whatever, just watch yourself next time."

Despite trying to move past her, Sky paused upon realizing that Dove wasn't following.

"Oh be easy on her, pal." Dove shook his head before patting Ruby on the shoulder "Haven't you heard? She and her friends have been through quite the series of ordeals lately, by all means she should be considered a hero."

Sky rolled his eyes at that, but Ruby just shook her head whilst subtly moving from Dove's grasp "I guess so," she said "I know it might sound really impressive, but I don't think I really want to talk about it."

"And so humble too!" Dove admired before shrugging "Dear Rose, you simply must inform me of how one such as I can reach a level of compassion that can mirror yours in even the smallest of comparisons."

"Maybe don't lace all your compliments with sarcasm?" she suggested quietly as she slowly continued on her path towards her dorm.

She could practically feel Dove's snickers as she left.

But she didn't have long to mull over his words, as she soon passed by Team CRDL's dorm and found the door slightly ajar. Had Dove and Sky forgotten to close it? Ruby knew the proper thing to do would be to close it or inform whoever was inside of it, but she also really didn't want to risk running into anymore of this particular team's members. Taking the scenic route had already proved far less relaxing than she'd hoped it to be, all she really wanted at this point was to get back to her team and chat carelessly about her trip or how Weiss's time with Penny went or something casual like that. Besides, it sounded like Cardin was speaking in there, so hopefully he'd notice the door on his own.

But a sound made Ruby pause before she could fully pass the door, the unmistakable sound of someone sniffling could just barely be heard over Cardin's voice. Suddenly she found herself rooted near the door as she focused more and more on the sound.

"-to the plan and hope they won't be able to counter it until after its too late." the tall boy said as whoever he was talking to released some more sniffles "Come one man, we're really close. I need to know you won't fall apart out there if things start looking bad."

Whoever was sniffling took a deep breath before a voice that Ruby hadn't expected finally replied "You don't have to worry about me, everything will turn out our way as long as Dove or Sky don't fuck it up."

That was definitely Russel, but had he really been crying just moments before? And how was it all that audible sadness could turn to these bitter remarks almost instantly?

"Dove's living garbage but he'd never risk getting on my bad side, and Sky trusts me enough for me to at least have faith in his ability to follow my orders. Only thing I can't trust right now is you. Ever since we got the um... well the news, you've been reacting in ways I can't call predictable. So if anything goes awry during the tournament, don't feel bad when I start glaring at you."

"I won't, haven't I been taking your training regime and equipment revamp in stride?" Russel bit "Even Sky complained more than I did! And, if you haven't noticed, I went through the majority of those 'changes', all for this plan of yours."

"A plan I've invested too much time and thought into to let your grief get in the way."

"It won't." Russel stated before the sound of a chair being moved reached Ruby "Now let me get back to work here, and close that door already. This draft is annoying."

"Shit, how long has it been open?" Cardin grumbled before quickly walking over "Did those two idiots just leave it like this?"

Cardin poked his head out and searched the empty hall before slipping back in and making sure to close the door behind him.

* * *

 _ **Climb something! Anything! He's circling around again!**_

 _Excuse me for not being as nimble as- uh oh._

Uthug just managed to avoid the Speedster long enough to try scaling one of the shelves, only to spot Mitch swerving from around another aisle.

"No getting off the tracks, you cheating roadkill!"

Uthug hurried to pull himself up, but Mitch's cart sped towards him far too quickly. The leg of his jumpsuit got caught by one of the sharp protrusions on Mitch's cockpit cage, and he was torn from the shelf. He would've been skinned on the floor passing below had his arms not instinctively lunged for two other jagged protrusions and held him up.

 _ **Those things are cutting into our Aura, find a safe spot to jump off and-**_

But Uthug merely snarled as he reoriented himself atop the speeding cart, which seemed to swerve more often once the driver realized the Uruk hadn't been dislodged.

"What the-!? Get your filthy mitts off my ride!"

The Looter began hammering away at the cage with his bare hands, just barely being able to hold on as Mitch began violently swerving his cart in an effort to shake him off. Somehow he managed to not clip any of the surrounding shelves as he maneuvered through them.

"Come on you slippery little shrahk!" Uthug snarled as he dug his claws into the cage and began prying it open "Just wait till I get my fingers in those eyes of yours and start yanking out whatever I can get ahold of!"

 _ **But we need him damn it!**_

"I need you dead!" Uthug roared as he finally pried enough of the cage open to get a clear shot at the now-panicked driver within. But as he reared back with a balled up fist, Mitch took a hard swerve around a shelf. The weakened cage came undone as the Uruk holding on to it went sailing down another aisle. Uthug collided painfully with the ground and rolled over to another shelf.

 _ **Up! He's coming back around!**_

Uthug pushed himself to his feet just as Mitch's cart appeared at the end of the aisle. Uthug turned to run in the other direction, only to find that another large shelf blocked his path. Atop that shelf sat Bubol, smugly enjoying the chase below.

"You wrecked my ride kid." Mitch breathed heavily as Uthug yelled up to the Archer.

"Do something damn it!" he shouted, the diseased lunatic merely shrugged before standing up and drawing his slingshot.

"I'm gonna grind you into the pavement!"

Uthug turned back wide eyed as Mitch once more sped towards him. However, a single little stone smashed the driver directly in his forehead mid laugh, nearly rendering him unconscious as he struggled not to lose control of the wheel.

Uthug watched as a second stone collided with the metal rod attaching the wheel to the cart. It had been hit in just the right position, making it bend out of place almost instantly. The panicked jerk Mitch gave it led the wheel to disconnect from the cart entirely, and soon it was slamming against the shelves on either side as it sped out of control towards Uthug.

Releasing the broken cage in his grasp, Uthug tightened his scowl before rushing the incoming cart and leaping forward. The front of the cart passed under him as his shoulder barreled into Mitch, the force was more than enough to wrench both him and his chair right off the back of the cart as it slammed into the shelf with enough force to make the whole thing tilt backwards.

Feeling the shelf shift out of place, Bubol was quick to leap to another one before it tipped back into two more shelves and brought them to the ground like dominoes. The archer gave an impressed whistle as he looked over the damage and scratched at the filthy growths covering his flesh, before the screams of a man below garnered his attention.

"No! Can't slow down! Gotta get back on tr-" Mitch's cries were interrupted once Uthug cracked his skull against the human's nose.

"Run me over and try to get away with it, eh fast man?!" The Looter seethed as he grabbed Mitch by the scruff his shirt and wasted no time in pummeling him with his free hand

 _ **Slow down, you're gonna kill him!**_

"One can only hope!" Uthug bellowed as Mitch's aura finally burnt out under the assault. Seeing the telltale shimmer, Uthug threw the man to the ground before kicking him hard in the side.

 _ **Uthug!**_

"Thought you was gonna get in my way!?" the Looter bit as he dropped down on the stunned human and clasped his hands together before swinging them into the side of his head, easily dislodging several teeth in the process.

 _ **Do you want off of this damned ship or not!?**_

Uthug paused in the midst of his assault, one hand clutching Mitch's neck while the other was just waiting to cave in his skull.

"Gotta... speed... need...quick." Mitch mumbled through his bloodied mouth "Gotta...go...fast."

Uthug sighed as he opened his fist and instead took Mitch's head in his hands.

 _Fine, just get it over with._

Almost immediately the aura around Uthug's hands flashed black for a moment as Mitch suddenly went still. The Uruk got off of him as the human's body began shaking and convulsing for a bit, narrowing his eyes at the realization that for the first time in what felt like forever, he finally had his thoughts to himself.

"Now what was all of that about laddie?" cooed Bubol from above "Went from beating that tark to cradling him real quick."

"Semblance, don't want him giving me trouble before we get him out of here." the Looter answered before pointing down at the still shaking human "Now help me carry him, I want to get out of here before something else-"

"Hello big boy!"

Uthug's head snapped to the side in horror to find that standing atop the shelf in the center of the room were five Broken, the leader waving casually at him as he giggled away.

"Rat found more meat! Had the eye hunt whilst getting tenderized!" One of the broken pointed out as another casually swung what looked like a meathook with a chain attached to it.

"Fishin's gettin good in these waters." the hook-wielder snickered "Grab ya boys and ya tools for a good catch."

"Huh, guess they heard the crash." Bubol commented as Uthug tried not to tear at his own skin in rage.

* * *

Finally drawing close to her dorm, Ruby noticed that team JNPR were almost all peaking out of their door. She was about to question them on why, but instead took note of the two voices arguing within her Team's room. Was everybody having some kind of teammate confrontation tonight?

"Ruby, you're back!" Jaune noticed her, nearly knocking into Nora as he waved "How was your trip?"

"Watch it!" Nora whined as she held a bowl protectively near her chest "Nearly made me spill my popcorn!"

"The trip was fun, dad and I saw some awesome looking birds while on the ship." Ruby could've gone on, but the sound of her teammates arguing caused her to shift topics "What's going on?"

From behind Nora, Ren leaned into view "Yang and Weiss, they've been at it for the past hour."

"Actually, two hours." Pyrrha tapped at her scroll before lowering it "Sorry, its just been a while since the last time they've clashed like this."

"I've got real lien running on who's gonna cave first," Nora tightened her fist before launching another handful of popcorn into her mouth "Yang's got this."

Ruby turned back to her door and listened with them for a second before taking a deep breath and marching over to it "Okay, I'm going in."

"-stand why you have to insert yourself into other people's situations with no care or tact at all." Weiss continued as she moved the chair of her desk out of her way to step closer to Yang, who was mouthing along to her words mockingly "And yet it seems my warnings just continue to fly over that head of yours."

"I told you it isn't a big deal, they just wanted some help for their teammates." Yang shrugged

"When you start bugging me about it, it becomes my deal. Besides, no matter how social you think you are I would never say you're exactly an expert on this subject. You just got back, can't you just mellow out for a moment before jumping into more tense situations?"

"Wouldn't exactly call youthful romance a tense situation, princess." the Blonde snorted before standing up and placing a hand over her own heart "Besides, helping your friends hook up is just a staple of being a good pal. Think about it fair Weiss! Search deep inside your heart, Queen of the North, you know within your very soul that they shalt be the cutest thing in all of the kingdom once bonded! I can see it in your eyes!"

"That's not the point! I don't even know why Yatsu isn't putting a stop to this." Weiss sighed as she pressed a finger to her forehead "Interfering in the affairs of others is not something I can just easily overlook, Yang. Its one thing to play those ridiculous pranks on your teammates, but things like this have a habit of backfiring. Trust me, up in Atlas I've seen far too many relations sour just because someone tried to butt in and make things go their way. Not everything requires the guidance of an outside force, a respected distance must be maintained by third parties."

"Um..."

The two turned to see Ruby carefully closing the door behind her.

"Ruby, perfect timing." Weiss sighed a breath of relief "Please talk some sense into your oaf of a sister before she ends up doing something we'll all regret. For some reason she's decided the first task to undergo once returning to the kingdom is try and play matchmaker for Coco and Velvet."

"Well-"

"Look, I'm just trying to help some mutual friends get a little closer, sis." Yang waved off the Heiress's statement "Certainly not the end-of the world scenario our resident Schnee seems to think it is. You know me, used to do stuff like this all the time back at Patch."

"I mean-"

"I don't know how things work on Patch but I can assure you that holding new scenarios to the preconceptions of previous ones can only take you so far." Weiss stated before folding her arms "And I know its not the end of the world... I'm just saying it feels like it would be impolite. By all means go risk your friendship if you wish."

"It's not like I'm gonna be shoving them together into locked rooms or anything, Weiss." Yang rubbed at her head "Just gonna try and get Coco to at least acknowledge what's happening. If it doesn't work out I would never try to force it. Not like I'm twiddling my thumbs trying to figure out how many laws and rights I can violate in order to get two people together. Still gonna try and stop me?"

"Hmph, I've learned by now that trying to stop you from doing something poorly thought out and reckless is like trying to move a building with my toes."

"As long as you aren't really invasive, I mean. I'm all for helping friends too, I like helping everyone. So-..." Ruby tapped her fingers together before pausing and looking at the two of them.

Hearing Ruby trail off, her teammates glanced over to her. Ruby was staring at them with some kind of sparkle in her eye. A smile began growing on her face as Weiss and Yang shared a confused look.

But suddenly she dashed over and hugged the two of them tightly, startling them both.

"Oof! Hey, what's the occasion?" Yang asked as she slowly but surely patted her sister on the back.

"Sorry, It's just been so long since we've done this!" Ruby explained as she nuzzled them both

"Argued? Fairly certain that's been a constant with us, Ruby?" Weiss raised an eyebrow at the sudden affection.

"No I mean, it's just... nostalgic." Ruby sighed "Walking in on you two fighting over something, suddenly being made mediator. When... when Yang was gone I almost thought we'd never be able to do this again. And now being right back here... I just..."

She trailed off once more and hugged them tighter. Weiss cast a glare over to Yang who shrugged before wholeheartedly returning the embrace. The heiress merely rolled her eyes as she too returned it.

"That reminds me sis, how did that trip with dad go?"

Ruby merely sighed as she continued squeezing them "Just... great."

* * *

Is this really how his entire life was set up now? Every time he got closer to his goal was a seemingly insurmountable blockade gonna just materialize out of the damned air specifically to try dragging him off center? That's what it was starting to feel like... and Uthug needed something to pay for it.

So after calling for Bubol to get Mitch somewhere safe, he decided to hell with keeping these Broken bastards alive. The Caterers could fill every spot down here if they wanted to. All that mattered was right now, right here. It was the five mad Uruks standing above that he desperately needed to sink his claws into.

"Oooh, followed the big boy to the little boy!" the leader cackled as he bent to one knee upon the high shelf "This boy wants both, and he's about to get 'em."

And with that he stood and leaned back with a pipe that seemed to have a large piece of broken furniture stuck to it. The Boy-Crazed Uruk then swung his makeshift maul into the single light hanging over the entire room, almost immediately plunging it into near darkness. The emergency lights were still functional, but Uthug couldn't truly see anything in the distance too clearly.

Before his eyes could properly adjust a bright light lit up his gaze, and he raised his arms to block it. It was coming from the Broken Leader, who was whooping and hollering as he slammed his maul against the shelf he stood upon. He had something strapped to one of his shoulder pads, Uthug faintly remembered Uthug's mention of the everlasting torches and immediately decided the most annoying one dies first.

So as soon as his vision began clearing up, Uthug began stomping towards the shelf that the pack leader stood upon. However, he only made it two feet when the Broken with the Meat-Obsession raced out from a corner ahead and charged him screaming, "Rat Meat, dead meat!"

Now this was his element, and Uthug flexed his fingers as he prepared to meet him head on. But two arms suddenly slipped under his arms from behind as he was suddenly lifted off his feet and restrained.

"This Catch's gonna be a fighter, lads!" the ambusher shouted as he practically held Uthug towards the charging Uruk as an offering "Gotta subdue him quick else he'll give us a right hassle!"

Uthug ground his teeth together, where the shrahk had he come from? But the Meat-Lover's rapidly approaching axe discouraged thinking. So Uthug acted on instinct, and used the limbs that hadn't been restrained. As the axe came down towards his heart, Uthug pushed both him and the Broken trapping him back with one leg as as the other shot up to kick the Meat-Lover away.

Unbalanced, Uthug was able to reach back with his hands and claw at the skull of the broken Uruk behind him. Though his aura held, the Broken tossed Uthug against the shelf on the side as the two of them each lunged back away from him. He looked up to find that they were both retreating down the opposite sides of the aisle now. He made to run after the Meat-Lover, fully intending to pry that axe out of his demolished hands if he had to, but his gaze went to another Broken who appeared at the edge of the aisle just as said Axe-Wielder raced past him.

This new one had a large pipe he seemed to be wielding like a staff, though the oddly shaped ends led Uthug to think it was some kind of spear. He quickly raised the weapon before jamming it into the shelf and prying one of its supports whilst humming "That one destroys."

But a second voice immediately picked up with "While the other one distracts!"

The Looter's head snapped back to see another Broken Uruk with an almost identical looking spear thing doing the exact same thing on the other of the shelf as the Ambusher ducked past him. The staff-wielders simultaneously yanked hard and snapped the edges of the shelf which began to tilt under the weight of the rubble stored up higher.

Uthug gasped as the entire second row of collected trash began spilling into the aisle starting at either end. He planned to throw himself back and press himself to the shelf behind him, but when the item on the shelf shifted the Looter turned back. Seeing what might be his best hope of escaping the small avalanche of junk, Uthug slammed his shoulder against the pile on the shelf until much fell out on the other side before stuffing himself in their place. He just barely got in before the pile of metal rubbish collapsed and pressed against his side before he wiggled through the shelf and out onto the other side.

"Oi? Boy's not bashed yet?" he heard the Pack leader call out as the bright light faded a bit "No matter, we got all the time in the world to play kiddo!"

As soon as he quieted down, Uthug nearly froze at the sound of several footsteps scrambling quickly around the quick room. Had they always moved like that? How hadn't he noticed th-

"Where you at boy!?" the Pack Leader shouted, his voice momentarily drowning out the footsteps.

Now that one definitely needed to die first.

Uthug saw the edge of the flashlight's gaze drawing near and he scurried away to another set of shelves. Before he could slip behind a corner, one of the pole-armed Broken seemed to explode from a pile of crushed boxes before jabbing at him. Uthug lunged back out of the range of that odd weapon before growling and ducking under it. The Broken saw his incoming fist and shifted the position of his weapon only for it to snap in half as Uthug's fist traveled right through it and into his jaw.

A weak aura flared as the babbling lunatic careened backwards, but he wasn't as dazed as Uthug had hoped. So when the Looter tried bringing his elbow down on the head of him, the other Uruk merely rolled past his legs whilst still shaking off the impact.

"That One scouts." the Broken Uruk muttered, but Uthug wasn't willing to slow down his attack until a set of footsteps on the other side of a nearby shelf drew closer.

"While the Other One distracts!" a voice called out before the entire aisle Uthug was in was bathed in light.

"Found ya again, big boy!" cried the Pack Leader before he began loudly slamming his weapon again and drowned out the sound of approaching footsteps.

Uthug didn't even have time to curse before the Uruk in front of him was swiping at him with the two halves of his weapon, the Looter ducked under them and shoulder charged into the Broken Uruk before wrapping both arms around him and throwing him to the side. Uthug turned to make for one of the relatively small potential weapons on the shelf when what should pop into his vision but a hook on a chain swinging down towards him. The growls from the Broken behind him prompted him to duck under the hook whilst scooting forward out of range of the Uruk's range before swinging his elbow back.

Not only did the Crazed inmate lunge back, he also managed to link his weapons in the passing hook before being yanked somewhat off the ground. Uthug's eyes went wide as he watched the Broken Uruk run along the edge of a shelf before spinning towards him. Pissed that even these guys had time for flashy attacks, the Looter ducked under the incoming kick before quickly throwing himself into the Broken's back and knocking him off the hook, which the Berserker quickly took hold of before it could be yanked away.

Up above, the hook-wielder felt the sudden weight and struggled to keep from losing his grasp before whistling, "We got us a biter here, lads!" he shouted as the other spear wielder climbed up to his aid "Now the key to proper fishin' is all about coordination! A demonstration, my boy?"

"The one aids!" shouted a voice from below

"While the other one maneuvers." said the spear-wielder before glancing over the edge to find Uthug rapidly hauling himself up the side of the shelf using the hook's chain. Setting down his spear, the One yanked something from the shelf below and launched it down towards Uthug who had to lean to the side to avoid it.

Gasping at the momentary lack of proper footing, the Looter glanced up before climbing faster "I'm getting tired of your shrahk gimmicks! Just die and be done with it!"

"How he giving you boys so much trouble?" the Pack Leader called out as he watched the One continuously try to dislodge the ascending Uruk "Just one meaty boy shouldn't be enough for trained boys like ya'selves! Do I gotta help ya grow again?!"

Grimacing at his words, the One finally picked up his spear again before jamming it into the chain and snapping it, but it was already too late. Uthug managed to haul himself over the side and immediately lunged at the broken Uruks. The Former Hook-wielder held up his chain as if to defend, but Uthug charged into the One before he could get distance to properly use his spear. He barreled into him, the Pack Leader frowning as he watched them both tumble down between another set of shelves.

Moving along the shelf he was on to get eyes on his prey, the Pack Leader only saw the Other One kneeled over the One.

"The One's down." said the Other One as he looped his arms under the battered's Uruks arms and carried him off.

The Pack Leader slammed his maul on top of the shelf loudly before calling out "Get me my boy, damn it!"

He adjusted the flashlight strapped to his shoulder before aiming it down to the floor below and scanning over it as his boys went about to their scampering. Passing his light over the shelves, the sound of metal on metal brought his gaze to what was unmistakably the Fisher's stolen hook now clinging to the edge of the shelf he was on.

"No no boy!" he called out as he raised his maul and rushed over "Gotta play with the others."

He was going to bring it down on the Hook when just on the edge of his vision, he spotted movement atop another nearby shelf which made him glance up just as a tiny rock sped directly into his eye. He wheeled back as his aura had to strain to keep the object from puncturing right into his skull, but the pain of the impact wasn't enough to distract him from Uthug hauling himself up.

Seems he'd gotten hold of the One's spear, because he threw it at the Pack Leader immediately as he charged. Despite still not being able to see too clearly from his one eye, the Pack Leader managed to bash the spear out of the air with his maul. However, he left a perfect opening for Uthug to leap onto him and slam their skulls together before raking the hook across his face. His aura held, and the Broken roared before wedging his maul between them and tossing Uthug off. When the Scavenger landed, the top of the shelf caved under his weight and he slipped off the edge. He just barely managed to grab hold and look up to see the Pack Leader sliding down the incline towards him with Maul at the ready.

Thinking quickly, Uthug let go of the edge of the shelf and instead grabbed one of its weakened supports, just barely putting enough space between him and the incoming maul for the Broken Uruk to miss and go speeding off the shelf into another one. His aura flared with every impact until he flopped onto the floor, groaning as he rose to his feet. Clutching the hook in both hands, Uthug leaped down towards the struggling Uruk. But before he could ram said hook through the back of his skull, the Fisher raced from behind one of the shelves and swung his chain at Uthug, managing to yank him off course and instead crash painfully into the ground while the Pack leader managed to scramble to his feet.

Enraged by the interruption, Uthug shook off the impact and rammed the top of his head into the Fisher's throat and pulled his hook free. Whipping a hand behind him, the fisher suddenly threw a tiny glass of fluids directly against Uthug's face which shattered and released a foul liquid which managed to completely obscure his vision. Uthug violently clawed at the gunk until he could see the retreating form of the Fisher.

Glancing back, the Looter noted the Pack Leader still stumbling away and raced after him.

The muscle-bound Broken had made it to the fallen shelves left over from the fight with Mitch, and he quickly began scaling one. Uthug raced to catch up, managing to get atop one. Before he could leap at the Pack Leader, a war cry from above brought his attention to the Meat Lover, who flung himself from the top of a neighboring shelf axe-raised. Uthug raised the hook, and deflected the strike, but the force managed to throw Uthug back. He landed atop the Pack Leader, and wasted no time in swinging his hook back into him, slashing at his aura again before the bigger Uruk grunted and hauled both of them over the side of the toppled Shelves.

Uthug glanced up to see the Pack Leader stumble away whilst raising his maul, and a scream behind him prompted him to duck as the Meat Lover lunged at him. Taking hold of the Axe-wielding Broken mid-attack, Uthug launched him at the Pack Leader. Though the larger Uruk dodged his flying underling, he was unprepared for Uthug to continue his assault with tangible ferocity. The Looter swung his hook right into the bigger Uruk's mouth, finally breaking his aura and wedging the weapon inside his gums. Uthug broke into a grin as the Pack Leader screamed, voice garbled from the hook in his mouth. However, that smile faded when he realized he couldn't manage to yank it back out.

The Pack Leader seemed to notice too, as his scream of pain shifted to maddened laughter as he raised his maul. Uthug ducked under the weapon and open palmed-swipes whilst trying in vain to tear his hook from the Uruk's mouth. Approaching footsteps reminded Uthug that the Meat Lover was still there, and the Looter quickly reached forward and tore the flashlight off the Pack Leader's shoulder pad before shining it back towards the incoming Uruk. The Meat Lover screamed at the sudden flash of light, his attack faltering just enough for Uthug to smash him on the back of the head with the tool. With him stunned, Uthug turned off the flashlight, placed it in his teeth and ducked under another swing of the maul before climbing upon the Pack Leader's back and wrapping both hands around the hook.

If he couldn't tear the damned thing out, he'd just have to dig it into something more vital!

The Boy-crazed Broken didn't take kindly to it, and began furiously trying to shake the Scavenger off while swinging his maul behind him as his deranged laughter only grew. When he almost brained Uthug a third time, the Looter growled before grabbing the flashlight and slamming its glaring bulb against one of his victim's eyes. The laughter returned to a scream once more, but Uthug's spiteful joy was short-lived when the Pack Leader lunged back and slammed him against a shelf. Knocked from his position, Uthug pushed himself back up to see the Fisher and Meat Lover charging him as their leader scrambled past them whilst trying to pull the hook from his mouth.

With a vicious snarl, Uthug whipped the flashlight in front of him, its light cutting through the dark room and forcing the Broken to scream as their vision was momentarily overwhelmed. But it was that single moment that the Looter needed most, as he slipped through their flailing limbs and lunged for the protruding hook once more.

The Pack Leader began swinging once more, but Uthug planted one foot on the larger Uruk's shoulder to brace himself as he dropped the flashlight and pulled the hook with both hands. The Screaming and flailing grew more and more violent as the hook dug along the Pack Leader's mouth and jaw before it finally punctured his skull.

His mad laughter changed to a pained wheeze almost instantly as his movements slowed, but that merely gave Uthug more leeway to twist the over-sized fishing implement deeper into his cranium. His cries distorted with each yank, until finally Uthug tore it out through his face in a spray of black blood and gray matter.

Uthug slammed into the ground, coating his clothes in a fresh coat of black blood before scrambling over to the fallen flashlight. Once he got a hold of it he pushed himself to his feet and turned back to find himself up against a wall. Both the Fisher and the Meat Lover had recovered enough to glare at him with chain and axe at the ready, above them both the One and the Other One stood upon the toppled shelves nearby.

Feeling much more confident after the gruesome butchering of their leader, Uthug ground his teeth together before pointing his hook at them "Come on! Who next? Just try something, anything!"

The Fisher was the first to move, subtly glancing towards the corpse of the Pack Leader for a moment before tapping his foot on the ground "No easy eats today lads, bite's actually better than the bark. Might aught to try next season after the weather's changed and the dead have been chained. New lighting can always improve the chance of a catch!"

"Bad meat! Too rough! No more pleasant taste!" the Meat-Lover whined as he began taking several steps back "Covered in too much black blood, need to cook! More flame to cook, cook entire land to make tasty again!"

"Then that one shall recover."

"While the other one waits."

And like that, they all turned and scurried off. Slipping in and over shelves until Uthug could only hear their footsteps fading into the distance. It was only when the sound of the busted double doors shifting loudly reached him that he let out a breath.

"Now that was simply delicious to witness."

Uthug sighed before looking up just as Bubol descended from the nearest shelf and landed with his usual flare of over-dramatic posturing. The Archer nodded towards Uthug before casually tiptoeing over to the Pack Leader's body "Might not have been the same as taking on a club of cooks, but I've seen enough to believe in your ability to make it happen, laddie!"

"Where'd you leave Speedy? I told you to keep an eye on him!"

"And miss out on seeing such a disgusting display of desecration?" Bubol bent down and picked up the corpse's Maul before leaning on it and turning his nose up "Hardly!"

Somehow, hearing a walking epidemic call anything disgusting made Uthug's slowly fading rage threaten to spark back up with a vengeance. But instead, he merely sighed before gesturing forward.

"Come on" he muttered "knowing my luck, taking the time to chew you out would give him just long enough to starve to death."

Luckily enough, when they returned to the shelf where Bubol said he'd stuffed him, the unconscious human seemed to have only fallen out into the aisle. Honestly, Uthug had nearly convinced himself that he would've been picked clean by rodents or something when they found him. Even a break like this was too generous, and so he immediately began scanning for the catch up until they made it to the exit. That was when said catch revealed itself.

They had just been ready to finally leave the god forsaken storage room when the sound of something being dragged along the ground reached them. Bubol slowed down first, raising a pustule covered brow as he squinted through his sores to see the approaching figure "Someone else here to take a crack at-"

He didn't finish, as Uthug practically tossed the unconscious Tark at him before stepping forward and flexing his fingers for what he was certain would be another test of his patience, of which only burnt embers remained.

To be fair, perhaps the Looter should've expected it to be the Knocker approaching, dragging his sledgehammer along behind him whilst grinning like a loon. Uthug had hoped the run in they'd had earlier would stay a one off event, but he realized that such notions were naive. And so he raised his hands and got ready for yet another time-consuming brawl as Knocker raised his weapon.

"Knock!" the burly Uruk shouted before pointing past Uthug.

"Who? Me?" Bubol openly pondered from behind the Looter "See something ya like big guy? Because I sure do."

Uthug wasn't willing to turn back and give the Uruk a chance to surprise him, but he did note Knocker shifting his weapon a bit as if to indicate something else.

"What? This thing?" Bubol responded with a chuckle "Ah, I can see you appreciate a good shape as well, eh?"

Uthug's eyes widened as he finally turned and saw that Bubol was leaning on the Pack Leader's maul, there was no way it would be that easy... not for him, right?

"Knock Knock!" Knocker began nodding up and down at it

"Sorry lad, but after what we just went through this tark here might not be enough compensation." Bubol cooed as he jostled Mitch a bit "A shame really since-"

"Oh just give him the damn thing!" Uthug snapped as he marched over and tore the maul from Bubol's stunned grasp before roughly tossing it into Knocker's with a growl "I'm gonna forget you nearly killing me earlier as long as you press ya'self against that wall there and let us stroll right out without me having to drench myself in your innards."

Knocker gave the maul several experimental swings before grinning widely and... doing exactly as he was told. Uthug's face may not have changed, but internally he was gobsmacked when the Mad Uruk followed his demand and leaned back against the nearby wall, out of their way.

"Ooh how I love it when Uruks learn to throw their weight around." Bubol giggled as he dragged Mitch past the stunned Looter and grinning Knocker "Like watching a new blood first figure out how to kill something twice its size, its almost magical!"

Uthug was still a bit stunned, watching as Knocker slowly tapped his two weapons to the wall behind him. The Mad Uruk stared back, punctuating each light impact with "Knock... Knock... Knock..."

Eventually the Looter did hurry to catch up with Bubol as they began moving farther and farther from that Storage Room, leaving behind the now rhythmic tapping of Knocker's weapons, but still the Looter couldn't get over how he'd actually managed to subvert a whole other tedious fight. Oh he didn't know how dangerous Knocker was, but considering how easily he'd destroyed that catwalk earlier, Uthug could tell he would at least be tiresome. But he hadn't needed to put up with it! All because the lunatic figured asking for the Maul was the better solution. Why couldn't he come to a conclusion like that earlier? Seemed pretty eager to watch the Scavenger plummet before. Had he taken note of his battle with the Broken and wisely decided not to further stir the Looter's ire? If so, then perhaps he did need to look more into that notoriety thing Gundza was going on about.

It was only then that Uthug realized something, Mitch had barely moved since Gundza had slipped into him. While it did make keeping track of him during the fight a non-issue, there was no way Gundza was having this much trouble with taking control. Perhaps he was just faking it to keep Bubol from finding out it was him?

"Pass him over." Uthug grumbled as he took hold of one of the Tark's arms

"Now now," Bubol waggled his pus-stained brows but let the human be removed from his grasp "don't ya think you deserve a bit of a rest after pulling all that back there?"

"Sorry to say this _Boss_ ," Uthug grumbled as he hefted Mitch onto his back "but from what I've seen and heard leaving anything unconscious near you is more of a gamble I ain't really willin' to-"

A sudden jolt had him stumbling forward as a familiar surge of... something hit him. Grumbling, he turned his gaze to the Archer in hopes he hadn't noticed, yet the curious grin Bubol now sported immediately dissolved that hope. To his surprise, the lusftul lunatic didn't immediately call out his sudden lurch.

"Planning on finishing them words any time soon?" Bubol cooed as he pranced ahead and leaned towards Uthug whilst waiting for an answer

"Just... just help me get this sod to your hidey hole or whatever."

And yet another unforeseen blessing had Bubol seemingly drop the issue with a cheeky shrug as he turned and resumed leading the Looter down the dark, dank halls of the Depths. Uthug was not under the impression that it wouldn't come up later, but right now he was more than happy with that. It gave him time deal with the familiar feeling of being watched that he could only equate to a certain Shadow.

As Bubol led the way, Uthug silently poked around for Gundza, hoping beyond hope that he'd gotten something from the Tark. With all the good luck he'd recently encountered, Mitch not giving them anything useful was becoming more and more of a likely possibility. He'd rather just get to the disappointing news now rather than later, as he didn't want to get his hopes up for-

 _ **Before the Tournament ends...**_

There he was.

 _So, get anything from your little pink-skinned friend or are we-?_

 _ **We have until the tournament ends to escape or we perish along with every prisoner on this ship.**_

* * *

"They've found the way home, boys!"

The assembly of Uruks immediately went quiet before they looked up to their leaders, many with skepticism or disbelief.

Skak grinned as he looked over the gathered Uruks, many of which hadn't been prepared for the sudden request to gather in the largest open space of the shantytown they called home. The day had seemed rather uneventful for most, going about working on their blades, roughhousing and generally waiting for something to spice it up. It had been too long since a good hunt or raid had gone down on account of the Garrison's royal screw up, and many had begun going stir-crazy in the absence of proper blood-shed.

That looming tension dissipated immediately once Skak had bellowed that single declaration. Now hundreds of stunned expressions looked upon the wooden stand that both of the Captains stood upon with several of their lackeys, pointed ears seemingly hungry for a follow-up.

But Ishga quickly realized his comrade was far too eager to enjoy the plethora of dumbfounded expressions and rolled his eyes before stepping forth "You hear right, brothers. Our allies amongst the Storm claim to have developed a method of creating a Dreamer Gate which could finally allow us access to the Dark Lord's domain. Our time of suffering this worthless realm's skewed rules and inhabitants has finally been rewarded!"

With that the Uruks began responding, as their shocked expressions melted into fierce grins and hoots of triumph as many began raising their fists and weapons in celebration.

"And once we return to our master's embrace, he shall use the Dreamer Gates to flood every kingdom in Middle-Earth with his armies!" Ishga proclaimed whilst raising a fist "And once those who dared to oppose him are finally cast in chains, we shall be his loyal guides into this world, we shall be the harbingers for his conquest of this miserable land, and we will aid him in every step as yet another realm falls to his grasp!"

Chants of agreement seemed to escalate with every statement, feet pounded as metal clanged to a chorus of happy growls and eager roars.

"However!"

Silence once more as Ishga lowered his arm "Despite this goal being within our grasp, there is yet more work required of us."

At that a couple of dissapointed calls rang out until Skak twirled his weapon and waved a hand "I get ya, me and Blood-Axe was a bit miffed as well. See those book-brained lugs in the Storm figured out how to put this Gate together, but its a touch more complicated than the ones we been using. So all of us, Garrison included, have to work on finding exactly what they need. Lot of these new ingredients have apparently been harvested by tarks or seem to appear where the dark beasts reside. And since Hork's boys have been hunting down all the weaker beasts, the only ones left are the real big ones. Same could be said for the tarks actually, since we all know how much fun we've been having with their weakest since we showed up."

"Which is why a division of duties in order." Ishga grumbled "There's no telling when Atlas plans to capitalize on the weakened state of Hork's tower, so the Warchiefs want these last ingredients gathered intermediately. Lucky for us, we've been tasked with picking up where we've left off with our neighbors, for it seems some of their trade goods are necessary for the construction of this gate."

"And you all know what that means!" Skak called out before beginning to rhythmically stomp "Raid! Raid! Raid! Raid!"

As the Uruks joined in, and the cries for a raid filled the night air, two blue marked Uruks watched the gathering from the training yard near the top of the tower.

Maku the Warmonger merely folded his arms at the sight "Pfft, look at them getting all charged up. Gonna make the Master's play even tastier, eh Whisperer?"

But the other member of the Storm wasn't viewing the gathering, instead he was staring up at the Garrison HQ. Hork hadn't added to it since the great embarrassment, using much of his semblance to speed up the reconstruction efforts. As such it was left in its blatantly unfinished state, but the well built solidity of what was there was obvious.

The Trainer glared up at the structure whilst running his weathered fingers through his beard before whispering out into the air "The Dreamer sees us, but will he continue to stay the course?"

Inside the Garrison HQ was a buzz of activity, as most of the Gate Defenders were currently stuffed into the large room that their Warchief had fought the Blonde Tark in. With the room lit up by both torches and moonlight which bled in through the large hole above and the broken window, the Garrison forces stood at attention as Pigug the Executioner paced before them.

"These are the beasts we knew would take much of our focus to bring down, the ones we were hoping we could just leave in their dens as we built up our forces!" the immensely armored Uruk bellowed "That isn't an option anymore and you all know why! Our Warchief demands the treasures nestled in their dens, and so we shall slay any who dare to stand in our way! We will return to the Dark Lord's domain!"

Between every word one could hear the clank of metal coming from the other Garrison Captain in the room. Dharg the Hell-Hawk approached a table set up near the broken window with a mug of grog in hand. The metal clanks came from the many patches of metal which had been affixed over his numerous wounds gained from the tark girls during their escape. Besides that were the leather straps designed to hide the most severely burned skin which crossed over his body, but the straps on his shoulder gave one of his namesakes a good place to perch as he approached the over-sized Gatekeeper currently leaning over the table.

Adjusting the mug in the grasp of the metal claws, which had been used to replace the fingers the Red Tark had blasted off, Dharg placed it on the table near Hork.

The Keeper of the Black Gate didn't tear his gaze from the rough map of Vacuo before him, but did bring the grog to his lips before speaking "I can believe that the Shaman's soldiers can acquire the ingredients needed from factories, given how savvy they've gotten with those gates, so I leave oversight of their forays to you, Dreamer."

He momentarily looked up to Tugog, who had turned away from the table and was currently watching the rising moon through the broken window. The Dreamer noted his silence and turned back to nod.

"But what about the Pits you ordered they make, Master?" Dharg questioned as he tapped a metal claw to the table "From how it sounds, they'd already diverted a significant amount of focus to that."

"We'll have to have them put it on hold, once we return to Mordor we can have all the Spawning Pits we need. Priority one should be contacting the Dark Lord, all of this will be in vain if we cannot ensure the knowledge we've gained reaches him. Once he is compensated for our abandonment of his Gate, then all of this will have been worth it."

Tugog's expression subtly soured at that, but he quickly turned away to continue watching the moon before any could notice.

* * *

Vale had handed Mitch over to Atlas once they realized no standard psychological treatments would work. His time under Gundza's influence had left his mind in a rather hectic state that seemed to focus solely on getting back on the road at all costs. As a result he became hostile towards literally anything that he considered to be holding him back from that goal. With the Vale council having their hands full keeping the Vytal Festival preparations going smoothly despite the skirmishes between Uruks, White Fang and Atlas going on all around them, one couldn't really fault them for trying to focus solely on assets that required their attention.

So when Atlesian Officials requested Mitch to study the effects Gundza's control had on him in case of future encounters, their compliance was never really in question. Mitch's memory gets extremely foggy around the details of what experiments they put him through exactly, but the result was generally inconclusive for the northerners. With results unsatisfying, Mitch was eventually just left in a padded cell for a while until one of their Scientists suggested a little test concerning his newly hostile personality.

And so Mitch was eventually brought to the Arceus, kept in a room similar to the ones the crew resided in, only with far more security locks and chains. The crew quickly realized that anything not relating to speed or cars was basically inconsequential to him, which meant many got quite loose-lipped when moving him around.

 _ **-And trust me when I say they got quite talkative about this right before Mitch got loose down here. I'm not sure how much of this is true since Mitch's guards didn't seem fully abreast of it either, but Atlas seems to be planning on topping off the Vytal Festival with either the destruction or apprehension of the Warchiefs and their forces. Apparently the rising stakes eventually got to the Vale Council and Atlas has an entire army already gearing up to take on the Tower.**_

Uthug's breathing got heavier as he tried to focus on following Bubol through the moist halls of the Depths, carrying Mitch, and listen to Gundza's words all at once.

 _ **I suppose it makes sense, given what we last saw of the Tower they must be aiming to capitalize on the structural weakness before the Warchief is able to repair it. The outcome of the battle is inconsequential to us; As no matter what, Atlas plans on sending all of the Uruks captured during it right here to us.**_

Uthug sighed as he navigated under a Broken trap which something else seemed to have set off earlier.

 _Which means even more bastards who want me dead are gonna end up on this dump, Tuka didn't really leave much of a good impression on them back when he was alive... and I don't think I need to tell you how they deal with deserters._

 ** _They won't get the chance to capitalize on any hatred they have for ya. Because once all the new prisoners are on board they's sinking us all._**

 _I thought that was only for escape attempts? If we ever started taking over the ship?_

 ** _I assumed that was their counter, but no. I'm not sure how much of this is actually known by the rest of the Atelsian military, as word of this apparently only started going around once the majority of the crew was drafted to help in the upcoming Assault on the Tower._**

 _Wait, if most of them left then-_

 _ **Indeed, the reason they stopped coming down to take Uruks for their tests is because they only have a small skeleton crew with a handful of AK-Units. Unfortunately for us, the Skeleton Crew seems far more determined to murder us all as effectively as possible, and is fully intent on staging a riot to justify their mass execution. They'll claim that we were escaping no matter what and just barely got away with their lives in order to keep up public relations. Mitch was supposed to have been killed by us inmates so they could claim he died whilst trying to build a repertoire in order to further the public's disdain for us and subsequent relief at our extermination.**_

A time limit, of all the things Uthug had expected Gundza to find in Mitch's nutty little head, it had to be a damned time limit. So not only was the hasty destruction of the Caterers necessary, they had to do it soon or else it was game over. And with how quickly the Atlesians could react to their escape, the margin of error was vast.

 _ **However, there is one saving grace. I found that there is a way to cancel the sinking before the vessel is fully submerged. The controlled sink will halt and floating devices will pull the ship up as long as enough of it is still above water. It's the only way to keep the entire thing from going under once the sequence is initiated. However, the only key able to activate this will no doubt be taken by the crew while they evacuate. If we're able to blast our way to the upper levels quick enough there's a chance we can snag it. Once it's in our possession, the Arceus is ours.**_

So a race will decide the fate of this ship in the end, a race they won't even be able to partake in if the initial break out doesn't go off without a hitch. That thought did nothing to reassure Uthug, especially considering who was apparently heading their side of the race. He glanced ahead to see Bubol pulling a loose piece of the metal wall aside and gesturing to it, "It's just down here lad, I betcha can't wait to get to a safe place to relax, eh?"

 _ **Bubol's willingness to waste time with frivolities is too much of a risk to a plan such as this, usually his obsession with whatever acquires his fancy is enough to keep him as goal-oriented as can be. But this ship has offered him too many distractions, and without any way to get to his current object of obsession he's grown complacent in enjoying the chaos here whilst waiting for opportunities instead of proactively trying to finish this battle as quickly as possible.**_

 _So, now can I kill him?_

 _ **Killing Bubol may seem satisfying to you now, but trust me when I say that it will only become more infuriating the more times he slips through your fingers. No, we just need to get his mind back on track. Like I said, he's having too much fun with the distraction this battle with Felgrat has offered, we have to remind what he really wants.**_

As Uthug began the arduous process of dragging Mitch through the enclosed service tunnel, he raised an eyebrow to the meaning behind the Shadow's words.

 _ **Just be quiet and let me explain, perhaps you'll learn a thing or two from this.**_

* * *

"He wants me to what?" Ratlug asked as he turned his attention from his project to the scroll lying on the edge of the desk, on said scroll was an image of Maku grinning.

"Tugog wants work on the Spawning pit stopped so you can, you know, focus more on that 'Gate to Mordor'"

Ratlug smirked at that before waving off the Warmonger "If the Warchief demands it, so shall I comply. Tell him he's got nothing to worry about, wouldn't want Hork having a stress-related heart attack before he gets to see what we're cooking up, right?"

With a chuckle, he ended the call before returning to his work. Above, the mass of gears and musical implements filled his lab with its uncanny chorus as he prepared to get to work.

"What was that, boss?" asked one of his researchers as he lit a cigarette and compared notes with another who took photos of the devices they were working on with his scroll.

"Nothing, just everyone needing my expertise as usual." the False Doctor noted as he looked down at the two items before him. One was a staff with a number of odd protrusions, while the other was... he sighed as he looked over the Pogo Stick lying before him, but resigned himself to complete his task so he could focus on something more urgent.

Watching from the doorway to his lab was Krosh, leaning against the frame with a grin as he pressed his own scroll to his ear. At his feat crouched his slave Mincemeat, who was currently using both of her sets of jaws to gnaw through a rather large bone.

"Can't believe he chose a Pogo stick of all things." Krosh snickered through the phone as he watched his bastard of a father get to work "Tell me, Oggie, when you were out getting the thing, did you feel as silly as I'm hoping you did?"

On the other end of the call, Ogthrak sighed as he poured himself another drink. Human alcohol would never amount to Grog, but at this point he couldn't really care.

So with a sip he blatantly stated "Yes, are you satisfied?"

Krosh's voice broke into snickers as the disguised Uruk brought his drink and scroll with him to the window of his office so he could watch the performance below.

While most of the Studio's staff turned in this late at night, both Borgu and Zog were still up and at it, along with some of the more determined of Masqueraders. As Uruks they could probably handle more late nights than the average tark, probably due to the long treks they'd have to make back in Mordor, but for Ogthrak it just meant they could spend longer pumping out content for their little enterprise.

One of the dancers near them, however, seemed to have reached her limit. She stumbled off screen whilst they were preparing their next song, fumbling her way through the back halls of the studio, trying to make her way to the bathroom as the contents of her day of drinking finally caught up to her. She passed near a door but was far too inebriated to notice the two inside.

"I can't!" Bebe stated for what felt like the millionth time as she pace back and forth

"Come on, buddy!" Krimp cheered from the couch nearby "Oggie gave you the chance to go meet up with family, no Uruk, tark or in-between should pass up an opportunity like that!"

"But he only did it he because he knows I'll screw it up! She stated "We've talked about this Krimp, I can't risk this!"

"No, he allowed it because there's a _chance_ you'll screw it up." Krimp elaborated before raising a fist of determination "And no chance is too small... for family! Ya do want to see ya brother again right?"

"I do!" she exclaimed before pausing "But Ogthrak's right, I'll just-"

"Nope!" Krimp interrupted before lunging and surprising the Faunus with a sudden hug which lifted her off her feet "You have to see him. And in honor of the bond between siblings, I'm gonna help you do it buddy!"

* * *

Uthug finally shifted Mitch's weight off him and let him collapse to the large pipe which seemed to travel along the far wall of the little hideaway Bubol had. The little service passage had led them to a hall that had been blocked by a rather large gate which looked similar to the ones the Broken used to cut off escape routes mid-pursuit. However, this one was far bigger, and looked as if it had jammed up, leaving two rooms cut off from the rest of the halls.

One of these rooms looked as though it had one point been planned to be a recreational room, though that was mostly due to the half-finished pool table in the center of it. The other room was an unfinished office comprised mostly of empty cabinets. Bubol had set up in the rec room of course, and had staked his claim on it with a smaller, less detailed picture of that tark girl painted on one of the walls.

"This was the first mural I made of her, back before I had access to enough Red to make the main one upstairs." Bubol sighed as he ran his fingers over it

Uthug gritted his teeth as he was reminded yet again how much time their 'Leader' wasted down here.

 _ **Focus! I already told you everything you need to know in order to rectify this. Since you seem so disgusted by plans, its on you to put this knowledge together in a manner which gets us out of here.**_

Taking a breath, Uthug focused on finding something to bind Mitch with, but kept glancing at the mural just enough for Bubol to notice.

And notice he did, "I see you too are captivated by her, its fine, perfection like this should be adored."

"No... sorry boss, I was just thinkin' about how she don't look too tough when drawn like that." Uthug grumbled as he finally found a discarded chord which would suit his needs "I was pissin myself when she had that damned scythe aimed at me, but she ain't a hassle."

"I know, right!" Bubol giggled before placing a hand over his pustule covered chest "But the sight of her trying so hard despite being such a small, innocent thing gets the blood flowing to all the right places!"

"Effort only gets ya so far." the Looter stated as he finished subduing Mitch and stood "Didn't help her or her friends against Ratlug."

That gave Bubol pause,as the Archer's grin took on a curious edge once more "Oh? A tidbit you seem to have failed to mention before, pal."

"Well, I told ya I was unconscious for most of the time your arsehole friend was controlling me, but I know about all the shrahk she had to go through to get her sister back." Uthug raised a hand and started counting off "I mean her team got split up again, leaving her with only Ashgarn's killer to face down Tugog and his entire gaggle of rabble, think I heard your pal was in there too roughing them up on their way to the blonde."

"Ah, I bet he clawed away at them for every floor they ascended." Bubol sighed "But I've seen the determination lurkin' behind those silver eyes, I know she must've slipped away from him somehow!"

Uthug ignored the little grumbles Gundza gave at Bubol's statement and simply continued speaking "Yeah, but they walked right into Hork's ambush after that. Now this was the time around me and Gundza were havin' issues, so I can't say how exactly they escaped. But I saw the destruction left behind, Gatekeeper nearly brought down the whole Tower just to kill them! In fact, might wanna update these murals of 'er."

Pushing past a euphoric looking Bubol, Uthug kneeled before the mural before rearing back with an open claw before a wart-covered hand took hold of his wrist.

"Surely you over exaggerate," the Diseased Uruk cooed "She has Aura to keep the permanent scars away, keeps that skin all nice and bare just waiting for my touch."

Uthug smirked as his other hand pawed at the floor "Maybe before the Tower, but by the time Gundza caught up it was more like this!"

With a quick flick of his wrist, the Looter added a layer of dirt to the image before he was yanked away.

"Now hold on," Bubol's smile faded a bit "how dare you insinuate she wouldn't keep clean for me!"

Uthug just kept going "But that was before Ratlug showed up! You know the Storm right? Who doesn't? Well Gundza got one of their finest to help him catch them before they got too far and he brought this massive heavily-armed machine that they was just barely dodging, singing hair and skin alike!"

"No." Bubol stated before frowning at the implications "That hair is mine to defile!"

"Then you probably don't want to hear about what happened after they busted the thing, because afterwards Ratlug was pretty pissed and just started tearing them apart. I mean he crippled one and busted up another's face-"

"Was it hers?!"

"Dunno," Uthug shrugged "maybe?"

"You lie!" Bubol snarled

"But... how would you know?" the Looter shrugged "I mean ya might as well get started on a different mural, boss, because at the rate she's going there won't be much of your red lass waiting for you outside."

Bubol narrowed his eyes before cracking a smile once more "I know she's keeping herself nice and clean out there, ready for MY scars, no one else's!" he shouted before jabbing a finger towards the Scavenger "That domain is mine for the defiling! Not Hork's, not Gundza's and certainly not some doctor wannabe Shaman boot-licker!"

With that he turned back to the Mural and began clearing away the dirt with one hand whilst scratching fervently as his pustule covered head with the other "I'll show you... that youthful, hopeful flesh will be just as succulent as it was the last time our blades crossed! Because she's mine..."

Digging his claws into one of the larger growths, Bubol took a step back from the image before whipping the bloodied pus onto it "Mine to sully, mine to desecrate!"

Uthug backed up, barely able to hear the Shadow's hum of approval over Bubol's increasingly vicious roars. The Diseased Archer continued flinging putrid fluids from his various growths until the image below could barely be seen anymore, before clenching his now dripping hands and bellowing towards the ceiling.

"Nobody else's! She's mine...Mine... MINE!"

* * *

Ruby knew that Weiss and Yang would be back to arguing as soon a she wasn't within ear-shot, but honestly she was glad that they were settling back into their old routine. They might deny it if pointed out, but even when they were first starting out as a team their dynamic was pretty obvious. Yang just enjoyed getting herself into odd or exciting situations that Weiss more than often didn't take kindly too, and their back and forth had become something of a RWBY classic.

Back then Ruby hated it when they argued, but she could somewhat shamefully admit to loving the fact that it was happening again. As she lay in bed getting as comfy as could be, she resolved to actually help deal with their disagreement later. Because at this very moment, with the sound of Weiss turning over below to try and block out Yang's snores, Ruby could almost forget that they'd nearly died dozens of times over the last month. The only thing that was missing was Blake, but soon even she'd be there to help complete the image.

She heard a suspiciously soft impact from Yang's bed, and after the Brawler shot up with a startled yelp, Weiss gave a little "Quiet down."

Though giving a few tired mumbles, Yang did conceded to the request with a yawn, "Whatever you say, Ice Queen."

Once everything had quieted down, Ruby shifted to better look out the nearby window.

As she watched the beautiful broken moon up there in the night sky, she let her mind wander to the epic fights the tournament was about to bring. Sure her Team may not be participating, but she was gonna be sure to get a front row seat so that all of her friends could hear her cheers first and foremost.

Yeah...the Tournament was going to be great!

* * *

 **AN: I suppose this is what I get for getting the last one out so quickly.**

 **Nearly half a year before this one came out, and I had planned for it to just be the finishing segway into the Tournament Arc. I don't know how it managed to get this large, but hopefully the size makes up for the time it took to get it out. The next chapter I can finally get into the actual Tournament, should offer me some more guidance timeline wise.**

 **But anyway, many will notice that the Uruk highlight is for a group today, a group of Uruks that literally everyone who plays they games meets. The Broken.**

 **Now the games seem o describe Broken Uruks in two manners actually, a mechanical definition and a story definition. Following the mechanics, Broken Uruks are the ones who've been battered down in battle so much so that it's easier for their minds to be dominated by the magically inclined. Following the story-line, however, Broken is the label for any Uruk whose been shamed and humiliated to the point of madness. I went with this definition.**

 **And so the Broken are the mad ramblers, those overridden with ludicrous babbling or simply awkward focuses. Anyone who's played Shadow of War for a decent amount of time has run into or created a plethora of them, as its often the final state for Nemeses the Player manages to defeat enough times. But whether its illegible screaming or repeating certain phrases over and over, Broken Uruks seemed to always act more unpredictable than their counterparts. I suppose that's why I felt inclined to give them their own Highlight.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoy, any and all criticisms positive or negative are welcomed in full so leave a review or comment if you are so inclined to do. Things you enjoyed about it? Things you hated about it? Any ways you feel I could improve? Expectations for the next chapter? Follow or Favorite at your leisure and I will see you all in the next installment of The Dreamer Gate.**

 **Next Chapter: The Hot-Head**


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